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OF  THE 

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FACTORY  LEGISLATION   IN 

MAINE 


BY 

E.  STAGG  WHITIN 


SUBMITTED    IN    PARTIAL    FULFILMENT   OF   THE    REQUIREMENTS 

FOR    THE    DEGREE   OF   DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

IN  THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


1908 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/factorylegislatiOOwhitrich 


FACTORY  LEGISLATION   IN 
MAINE 


BY 

E.  STAGG  WHITIN 


SUBMITTED   IN   PARTIAL    FULFILMENT   OF   THE    REQUIREMENTS 

FOR   THE   DEGREE    OF    DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY 

IN  THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


1908 


*$$ 


Copyright,  1908 

BY 

E.  STAGG  WHITIN 


PREFACE 

The  police  power  of  the  state  is  "  the  power  of  promoting 
the  public  welfare  by  restraining  and  regulating  the  use  of 
liberty  and  property."  Factory  legislation  is  composed  of 
statute  laws  which  define  the  method  and  form  the  police 
power  shall  take  in  its  relation  to  that  part  of  the  commun- 
ity who  labor  in  factories,  workshops  and  industrial  estab- 
lishments of  all  kinds.  It  would  immediately  appear  that 
factory  legislation  is  a  term  including  in  most  of  the  states 
much  more  than  the  narrow  construction  of  the  word  would 
indicate.  Even  in  the  State  of  Maine,  where  as  yet  no 
elaborate  factory  code  has  been  evolved  in  the  sixty  years  of 
factory  legislation,  its  scope  is  much  broader  than  would 
at  first  be  supposed.  If  one  may  define  it  as  similar  in  scope 
to  that  of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics  it 
would  be  "  limited  to  legislation  which  has  relations  to  the 
commercial,  industrial,  social,  educational  and  sanitary  con- 
ditions of  the  laboring  people,"  i.  e.,  conditions  that  have  re- 
sulted from  the  fact  that  they  were  laborers  in  those  fields 
that  are  recognized  as  "  labor  "  fields.  It  takes  for  granted 
that  such  persons,  because  they  are  restricted  by  economic 
pressure  to  seek  a  living  wage  by  selling  their  time  to  others, 
are  not  free  competing  agents  in  society  and  thus  must 
be  protected  by  the  state.  Such  legislation  is  simply  in 
fulfilment  of  the  guarantee  in  the  constitution  of  the  states 
of  the  right  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
is  simply  the  concrete  and  definite  expression  of  the  police 
power  which  every  state  may  use  for  the  protection  of  the 
individual.  Such  legislation  would  include  in  the  State  of 
5]  5 


183499 


6  PREFACE  [6 

Maine  all  the  laws  published  by  the  Commissioner  of  In- 
dustrial and  Labor  Statistics  in  his  report  of  1907. 

The  national  government  has  long  regulated  the  labor 
of  seamen  and  in  recent  years  has  extended  its  police  power 
so  as  to  regulate  labor  conditions  in  certain  lines  within  the 
respective  states.  As  yet  this  control  has  only  been  exer- 
cised under  the  constitutional  right  of  the  regulation  of  inter- 
state commerce.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  at 
present  exerting  its  power  over  the  employees  of  all  com- 
mon carriers  has  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  states  the 
regulation  of  wages,  hours,  employers'  liability,  etc.,  for 
employees  when  engaged  in  interstate  commerce.  For  this 
reason,  from  this  study  have  been  omitted  all  laws,  though 
enacted  by  the  State  of  Maine,  that  relate  directly  to  per- 
sons employed  on  common  carriers,  or  as  seamen,  because 
they  not  only  form  a  class  separate  from  factory  legislation, 
but  because  no  comprehensive  study  of  them  would  be  pos- 
sible without  discussing  the  field  of  national  legislation. 

I  desire  to  extend  my  thanks  to  those  who  have  aided  me 
in  the  writing  of  this  thesis.  I  am  especially  indebted  to  Dr. 
Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  Professor  of  Social  Legislation, 
Columbia  University,  for  his  co-operation  in  the  planning 
and  execution.  To  Dr.  Owen  R.  Lovejoy,  Secretary  of  the 
National  Child  Labor  Committee,  and  H.  S.  Braucher, 
General  Secretary  of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Portland, 
Maine,  I  owe  much  for  help  in  reaching  those  interested  in 
factory  legislation  in  the  State.  The  assistance  of  Miss 
Adelaide  R.  Hasse,  Librarian,  Department  of  Public  Docu- 
ments, New  York  Public  Library,  of  Dr.  Ernest  Emery, 
State  Librarian,  Augusta,  Maine,  and  of  his  courteous  as- 
sistant, Rev.  Dr.  Livingston,  in  placing  their  libraries  at  my 
disposal  has  been  invaluable.  The  courtesy  of  the  Bureau 
of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  through  Commissioner 
Lyons  and  Major  House  has  extended  even  to  allowing  me 


7]  PREFACE  j 

to  use  proof  sheets  of  their  report  for  1907.  Valuable  sug- 
gestions have  been  received  from  conferences  with  Mr. 
George  E.  Morrison,  State  Factory  Inspector;  Mrs.  Mary 
L.  Burnham,  State  Officer  of  the  Protection  League ;  George 
W.  Grover,  Probation  Officer,  Portland,  Maine;  Mr.  W.  H. 
Looney,  of  Portland;  Mrs.  George  C.  French,  President  of 
the  Civic  Club,  Portland;  Mr.  E.  P.  Wentworth,  Superin- 
tendent of  the  State  School  for  Boys,  Portland;  Miss  Elsie 
Nutt,  Headworker  of  the  Fraternity  Settlement,  Portland; 
and  Mr.  A.  Eagles,  President  of  the  Central  Labor  Union, 
Portland.  These  acknowledgments  would  only  be  half 
made  if  I  omitted  to  mention  Abner  Nichols,  Chairman  of 
the  Legislative  Committee  of  the  State  Federation  of  Labor, 
to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  material  relating 
to  labor  organization. 

Ernest  Stagg  Whitin. 
Columbia  University,  April,  1908. 


CONTENTS 


FACE 

Preface 5 


PART  I— HISTORICAL 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Basis  of  Legislation,  1821 

(1)  Industries  and  their  regulation  in  the  district  of  Maine.     (2)  Laying 

foundations  in  legislation  for  children.     (3)  The  control  of  the  time  for 

manual  labor.     (4)  Regulations  in  regard  to  wages.     (5)  Regulation  and 

inspection  of  dangerous  machines  and  the  protection  from  fire 15 

CHAPTER  II 
Early  Child  Labor  Laws,  1847-1855 
(1)  Early  factory  conditions.  (2)  Educational  campaign.  (3)  The  first 
child-labor  bill.  (4)  The  example  of  England  and  other  states.  (5)  Value 
of  enforcement  by  school  committees  questioned.  (6)  The  act  of  1847. 
(7)  Act  of  1848  regulating  hours  of  labor.  (8)  Attempt  to  repeal  the  act 
of  1848.  (9)  Gov.  Dana's  child-labor  message  of  1850.  (10)  Regu- 
lation of  local  compulsory  education 26 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Movement  from  Local  to  State  Regulation  Aided  by 
Industrial  Conditions,  1 861-1886 
(1)  Investigations  of  1868  to  1874.     (2)  The  first  mandatory  act  regarding 
attendance  (1875).     (3^  The  r'se  °f  tne  laDor  movement  results  in  a 
demand  for  better  state  regulations.     (4)  State  regulations  result  in  1887.     47 

CHAPTER  IV 
Attempts  Toward  Regulation  of  Wages 
(1)  Knights  of  Labor.     (2)  Strikes  vs.  legislation.     (3)  Legislation  about 
wages.     (4)   Wages  of  married  women.     (5)  Payment  of  wages.     (6) 

Fortnightly  payment.     (7)  Truck  acts.     (8)  Mechanics'  lien 53 

9]  9 


IO  CONTENTS  [IO 


CHAPTER  V 
General  Factory  Acts  of  1887 
(1)  The  progress  of  the  ten-hour  movement  during  1886.     (2)  The  need  of 
legislation.      (3;   The  legislature  of   1887.      (4)   Safety   appliances  on 
boilers.     (5)  Attendance  laws  68 

CHAPTER  VI 
Expansion  of  Factory  Legislation,  1887-1903 
(1)  The  bureau  of  statistics  and  inspection.  (2)  Labor  aids  enforcement. 
(3)  Some  faults  in  the  laws.  (4)  Failure  of  school  authorities  to  co- 
operate. (5)  Bureau  vs.  factory  department.  (6)  Changes  in  factory 
department.  (7)  Results  from  child-labor  law  enforcement.  (8)  Diffi- 
culties of  enforcement  of  labor  laws  during  financial  depression.  (9) 
Employment  bureau  law.  (10)  Powers  of  the  factory  inspector  defined 
by  court.  (11)  Attempts  to  improve  compulsory  education  laws.  (12) 
Effects  of  compulsory  education  laws  on  child  labor  (1899-1903J.  (13) 
Maine  mining  bureau.     (14)  Revival  of  the  labor  movement 83 

CHAPTER  VII 
Child  Labor  Campaign,  1905-1907 
(1)  Agitation  by  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs.     (2)  The  legislature  of 
I9°5«     (3)  The  legislature  of  1907.     (4)  Other  labor  legislation  before 
the  73d  legislature.     (5)  The  fifty-eight  hour  bill.     (6)  Initiative  and 
referendum 102 


PART  II— ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  FACTORY  LAW,  1908 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Introductory 

(i)  Meaning  of  referendum.     (2)  Necessity  for  period  of  education 123 

CHAPTER  IX 
Agencies  of  Enforcement 
(1)  The  lack  of  co-ordination  among  agencies  of  enforcement.     (2)  The 
organization  of  a  department  of  labor  and  child  protection 126 


lx]  CONTENTS  II 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  X 
Child  Labor 
(i)  Defects  in  the  law  of  1907.     (2)  Poverty  of  the  parents.     (3)  The 
canning  industries.     (4)  Mercantile  establishments.     (5)  Street  trades..   130 

CHAPTER  XI 
Provisions  Affecting  All  Employees 
(1)  Arbitration.     (2)  Fifty-eight  hour  law.     (3;  Employers' liability.     (4) 
Conclusion 139 

APPENDIX 
Index  to  Labor  Laws  of  the  State,  1908 .    142 


PART  I 

HISTORY 


•       3  TY  | 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Basis  of  Legislation  (1821) 

§  1.  Industries  and  their  Regulation  in  the  District  of 
Maine. — It  is  not  generally  realized  that  Maine  is  a  manu- 
facturing state,  still  less  that  factory  bells  could  have  an- 
nounced the  birth  of  the  State  of  Maine.  In  the  year  18 16, 
four  years  before  that  eventful  day,  a  writer  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Compendium  *  describes,  in  quaint  language,  the 
manufactories  of  the  State : 

There  are  many  ponds  in  Kennebec  County,  from  one  mile 
to  less  in  length  to  seven  or  eight  miles,  the  streams  flowing 
from  them  to  Kennebec,  Androscoggin,  Sandy  Rivers,  etc., 
afford  some  of  the  best  mill  sites  in  the  world,  saw  mills,  grist 
mills  and  fulling  mills,  machines  for  carding  wool  are  common, 
a  paper  mill  and  a  factory  for  cotton  and  wool  are  established 
on  a  beautiful  stream  in  Gardiner,  factories  for  cotton  and  wool 
are  likewise  at  Winthrop,  Readefield  and  other  places.  Cop- 
peras is  made  at  Winthrop  and  iron  at  Clinton. — Anson  (the 
town  in  which  the  writer  lives )  contains  generally  good  land, — 
it  has  two  grist  mills,  one  has  two  pair  of  stones  and  the  other 
three  pair, — saw  mill,  fulling  mill,  two  carding  machines,  trip 
hammer,  bark  mill,  and  various  machines  turned  by  water,  a 
number  of  dwelling  houses,  stores,  etc.,  contribute  to  form  a 
pretty  village.  Mills  and  such  villages  are  common  here- 
abouts.    .     .     . 

Maine  inherited  from  Massachusetts  as  its  birthright  cer- 

1  Massachusetts  Compendium,  no.  4,  p.  72;  pub.  Portland,  1816. 
15]  15 


l6  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [^ 

tain  legislation,  which,  while  "  blue  "  according  to  the  stand- 
ards of  our  time,  tended  then  to  show  only  its  virility. 
This  legislation  groups  itself  under  the  four  heads  most  con- 
spicuous today  in  our  labor  laws :  ( i )  legislation  for  children ; 
(2)  control  of  the  time  of  labor;  (3)  regulations  in  regard 
to  wages,  and  (4)  regulation  and  inspection  of  dangerous 
machines  and  the  protection  from  fire. 

§  2.  Laying  Foundations  in  Legislation  for  Children. — The 
child  was  the  subject  of  the  earliest  and  most  social  of  the 
legislation  among  the  early  Pilgrims,  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  and  those  settlers  in  Maine,  whose  coming  antedates 
these  more  renowned  settlers.  The  first  volume  *  of  the 
Massachusetts  records  shows  provisions  for  school  facilities 
as  early  as  1636,  while  in  1642  an  attempt  was  made  to  pro- 
vide some  general  system  of  education  which  should  be 
compulsory  upon  the  children  of  the  colonists.  The  record 
of  the  Colonial  Court,  is,  in  part,  as  follows : 

This  Court  taking  into  serious  consideration  the  great  neglect 
of  many  persons  and  masters  in  training  up  their  children  in 
learning,  and  labor,  and  other  employments  which  may  be 
profitable  to  the  commonwealth,  do  hereby  order  and  decree, 
that  in  every  town,  the  chosen  men  appointed  to  manage  the 
prudential  affairs  of  the  same,  shall  henceforth  stand  charged 
with  the  care  of  the  redress  of  this  evil ; — and  for  this  end, 
they,  or  the  greater  number  of  them  shall  have  power  to  take 
account  from  time  to  time,  of  all  parents  and  masters,  and  of 
their  children,  especially  of  their  ability  to  read  and  understand 
the  principles  of  religion  and  the  capital  laws  of  this  country 
and  to  impose  fines  upon  such  as  fail  to  render  such  account 
to  them  when  they  shall  be  required ;  and  they  shall  have  power, 
with  the  consent  of  the  court,  or  the  magistrate,  to  put  forth 
apprentices  the  children  of  such  as  they  shall  find  not  able  and 
fit  to  employ  and  bring  them  up. 

1  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i. 


1 7]  THE  BASIS  OF  LEGISLATION  17 

The  selectmen  of  every  town  were  further  required  "  to 
have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  brethren  and  neighbors,  to  see 
that  none  of  them  shall  suffer  so  much  barbarism  in  any  of 
their  families,  as  not  to  endeavor  to  teach,  by  themselves 
or  others,  their  children  and  apprentices,  so  much  learning 
as  may  enable  them  perfectly  to  read  the  English  tongue  and 
(obtain)  a  knowledge  of  the  capital  laws;  upon  penalty  of 
twenty  shillings  for  each  offence  therein." 

In  1647  tne  first  comprehensive  law  was  enacted.  The 
following  extract *  shows  the  general  scope  of  the  law,  the 
system  it  inaugurated,  and  the  principles  upon  which  that 
system  rested.  The  original  form  of  spelling  is  given  only 
in  the  preamble : 

It  being  one  chiefe  project  of  ye  ould  deluder,  Sathan,  to 
keepe  men  from  ye  knowledge  of  ye  Scriptures,  as  in  formr 
times  by  keeping  ym  in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  in  these  lattr 
times  by  perswading  from  ye  use  of  tongues  yt  so  at  least  ye 
true  sence  and  meaning  of  ye  originall  might  be  clouded  by 
false  glo  of  saint  seeming  deceivers,  yt  learning  may  not  be 
buried  in  ye  grave  of  or  fathrs  in  ye  church  and  commonwealth 
the  Lord  assisting  or  endeavors. 

It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this  Court  and  authority  thereof 
that  every  township  in  this  jurisdiction,  after  the  Lord  hath 
increased  them  to  the  number  of  fifty  householders,  shall  then 
forthwith  appoint  one  within  their  town  to  teach  all  such 
children  as  shall  resort  to  him,  to  write  and  read ;  whose  wages 
shall  be  paid,  either  by  the  parents  or  masters  of  such  children, 
or  by  the  inhabitants  in  general,  by  way  of  supply,  as  the  major 
part  of  those  who  order  the  prudentials  of  the  town  shall 
appoint ;  provided  that  those  who  send  their  children  be  not  op- 
pressed by  paying  much  more  than  they  can  have  them  taught 
for  in  the  adjoining  towns. 

1  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii,  p.  203. 


1 8  FA  CTOR  Y  LEGISLA  TION  IN  MAINE  [  x  g. 

And  it  is  further  ordered  that  when  any  town  shall  increase 
to  the  number  of  one  hundred  families  or  householders,  they 
shall  set  up  a  grammar  school,  the  master  thereof  being  able  to 
instruct  youths  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  university ; 
and  if  any  town  neglect  the  performance  above  one  year,  then 
every  such  town  shall  pay  five  pounds  per  annum  to  the  next 
such  school,  till  they  shall  perform  this  order. 

Of  this  old  law  the  historian,  R.  C.  Stanley,1  says  : 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  law  was  not  in  the  interest  of  the  select 
few,  but  that  it  provided  a  system  of  common  schools  for  all 
and  made  that  system  compulsory.  It  will  also  be  seen  that 
under  the  law  were  certain  principles,  now  for  the  first  time 
boldly  proclaimed  and  clearly  enunciated,  but  clung  to,  empha- 
sized and  reiterated  by  frequent  legislation  in  Massachusetts 
and  in  Maine  until  this  day.  The  first  of  the  underlying  princi- 
ples of  these  earliest  school  laws  was  that  the  safety  and 
prosperity  of  the  State  required  that  the  youth  of  the  State 
should  be  educated. 

Second,  That  the  parent  was  in  the  first  instance  responsible 
for  the  education  of  his  children. 

Third,  That  the  State  has  a  right  to  enforce  this  responsibility 
upon  the  part  of  parents.  ' 

Fourth,  That  the  State  may,  by  legislative  enactment,  not 
only  require  the  child  to  attend  school,  but  may  fix  a  standard 
of  rank  which  shall  determine  the  kind  of  education  and 
minimum  amount.  These  principles  were  set  forth  in  the  law 
of  1642. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  principle  underlying  these  laws 
was  not  that  the  State  should  educate  the  child  for  the  benefit 
of  the  child  or  its  parents,  but  because  the  safety  of  the  State 
demands  that  the  child  be  educated. 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  attendance  at  the  schools  pro- 
vided by  the  law  was  not  made  wholly  compulsory,  for  the 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education,  1852. 


I9]  THE  BASIS  OF  LEGISLATION  !9 

parent  had  a  right  to  provide  equivalent  education  in  any  way 
he  might  elect.  The  law  was  based  on  the  principle  that 
the  child  must  be  educated.  If  the  parent  does  not  provide  the 
means  then  the  child  must  attend  the  public  schools.  This 
fundamental  idea  is  retained  in  the  school  laws  of  today. 

The  uniting  of  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth 
and  Maine  under  the  new  charter  *  of  1691  made  these  laws 
applicable  to  the  children  of  the  colony  of  Maine. 

The  duty  of  enforcement  of  the  laws  lay  upon  the  select- 
men, until,  in  1789,  a  general  school  law  was  passed  which 
included  ministers  of  the  Gospel  as  well  in  the  good  work. 
The  year  previous,  1788,  these  ministers  2  had  been  given  a 
"  benefit "  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  "  minister 
lot,"  together  with  the  use  of  a  similar  lot  known  as  the 
"  ministerial  lot/'  while  the  school  of  the  town  was  given 
a  similar  "  school  lot  "  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres. 
Natural  it  was  that  the  duty  of  pastoral  truant  officer  be 
given  by  the  State  to  these  good  dominies,  because  payment 
had  already  been  provided  for  their  services.  At  least  this 
duty  was  plain,  for  the  law  3  of  1788  reads : 

And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Minister  or  Ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  the  Selectmen  (or  such  other  persons  as  shall  be 
especially  chosen  by  each  town  or  district  for  that  purpose) 
of  the  several  towns  or  districts,  to  use  their  influence  and  best 
endeavors  that  the  youth  of  their  respective  towns  and  dis- 
tricts do  regularly  attend  the  schools  appointed  and  supported 
as  aforesaid,  for  their  instruction;  and  once  in  every  six 
months,  at  least,  and  as  much  oftener  as  they  shall  determine  it 
necessary,  to  visit  and  inspect  the  several  schools  in  their  re- 

1  MacDonald,  Select  Charters,  205-212.  Poore,  Charter  and  Consti- 
tution, vol.  ii,  p.  942. 

2  Laws  of  1789,  Massachusetts,  chap,  xix,  sec.  7. 
8  Laws  of  1788,  Massachusetts. 


20  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [20 

spective  towns  and  districts,  and  shall  inquire  into  the  regula- 
tions and  discipline  thereof,  and  the  proficiency  of  the  scholars 
therein,  giving  reasonable  notice  of  the  time  of  their  visitation. 

How  "  vigilant  an  eye  "  was  kept  over  the  children,  there 
are  no  records  to  show,  but  the  "  benefit  of  ministry  "  was 
enjoyed  until  the  year  1832,  when  an  act  was  passed  to  regu- 
late the  question  of  school  lands  which  seemed  to  have  been 
carried  over  by  the  "Act  of  Separation,"  x  and  to  appro- 
priate "  the  income  of  certain  ministerial  funds  to  the  sup- 
port of  schools." 

Inheriting  these  traditions,  the  new  State  passed  a  com- 
prehensive school  law  in  January,  1821,2  perpetuating  the 
principles  of  the  old  Massachusetts  law,  but  failing  to  defin- 
itely locate  the  responsibility  of  enforcement  upon  any  of 
the  school  or  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

This  omission  ought  not  to  have  excused  the  selectmen 
from  their  legal  responsibility.  Section  6  of  the  Articles  of 
Separation  states  "  That  all  the  laws  which  shall  be  in  force 
within  the  said  District  of  Maine,  upon  the  said  fifteenth  day 
of  March  next,  shall  still  remain,  and  be  in  force,  within  the 
said  proposed  State,  until  altered  or  repealed  by  the  govern- 
ment thereof,  such  parts  only  excepted  as  may  be  inconsistent 
with  the  situation  and  condition  of  said  new  State,  or  repug- 
nant to  the  constitution  thereof."  But  the  ministers  and 
selectmen  were  busy  with  other  things,  and  seldom,  prob- 
ably, did  the  duty  of  enforcement  of  school  attendance 
weigh  heavily  on  their  shoulders. 

We  shall  trace  in  the  chapters  that  are  to  follow  the  way 
in  which  by  subsequent  legislation  the  state  made  definite 
the  regulations  in  regard  to  the  activities  of  young  children 

1  Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  1819-1820,  p.  12. 

2  Revised  Statutes  (Maine,  1822). 


2i]  THE  BASIS  OF  LEGISLATION  2l 

and  the  powers  of  those  in  whose  hands  the  duty  of  enforce- 
ment rests,  but  it  is  in  this  early  legislation  that  we  find  the 
promise  of  the  later  development  of  this  principle. 

§  3.  The  Control  of  the  Time  for  Manual  Labor. — Prob- 
ably no  "  blue  law  "  of  the  old  colonies  was  more  rigidly 
enforced  than  that  providing  for  a  day  of  rest  on  the  Sab- 
bath. It  is  unnecessary  here  to  trace  the  differing  forms 
in  which  this  semi-religious  legislation  expressed  itself  in 
the  colonial  and  district  period  of  Maine  history,  because  its 
spirit  survives  the  "Act  of  Separation  "  and  was  enacted  in 
statute  form  in  the  session  of  182 1.1  Surely  no  one  can 
doubt  the  sincere  conviction  of  our  ancestors  as  shown  in 
this  act,  that  the  State  has  a  right  to  control  and  limit  the 
time  during  which  the  persons  in  the  State  could  legally  per- 
form certain  specified  acts  of  labor.  Despite  its  religious 
emphasis  this  right  is  clearly  and  emphatically  enunciated. 
Its  quaint  language  will  justify  a  careful  reading  by  the 
modern  student  of  the  subject. 

Whereas  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  is  highly  pro- 
motive of  the  welfare  of  the  community,  by  affording  necessary 
seasons  for  relaxation  from  labor  and  the  cares  of  business; 
for  moral  reflections  and  conversation  on  the  duties  of  life, 
and  the  frequent  errors  of  human  conduct;  for  public  and 
private  worship  of  the  Maker,  Governor  and  Judge  of  the 
world;  and  for  those  acts  of  charity  which  support  and  adorn 
a  Christian  Society ;  And  whereas  some  thoughtless  and  irrelig- 
ious persons,  inattentive  to  the  duties  and  benefits  of  the  Lord's 
day,  profane  the  same,  by  unnecessarily  pursuing  their  worldly 
business  and  recreations  on  that  day,  to  their  own  great  damage, 
as  members  of  a  Christian  Society ;  to  the  great  disturbance  of 
well  disposed  persons,  and  to  the  great  injury  of  the  com- 
munity, by  producing  dissipation  of  manners  and  immoralities 
of  life. 

1  Revised  Statutes,  1822. 


22  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [22 

Sec.  i.  That  no  traveller,  drover,  waggoner,  teamster,  or 
any  of  their  servants,  shall  travel  on  the  Lord's  day,  or  any 
part  thereof  (except  from  necessity  or  charity,)  under  a  penalty 
not  less  than  four  dollars  nor  more  than  six  dollars  and  sixty- 
six  cents ;  which  penalty  may  be  recovered  with  costs  of  prose- 
cution, upon  complaint  before  any  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the 
County  where  the  offence  may  be  committed;  one  moiety 
thereof  to  the  complainant  and  the  other  moiety  to  the  use  of 
the  County  within  which  the  offence  may  be  committed;  or 
before  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  same  County 
by  presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury,  in  which  case  the  whole 
penalty  shall  enure  to  the  benefit  of  the  County:  Provided 
however,  That  all  prosecutions  for  the  said  penalty  shall  be 
commenced  within  six  months  after  the  offence  was  committed, 
unless  the  offender  resides  without  the  State. 

Sec.  2.  That  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever  shall  keep 
open,  his,  her,  or  their  shop,  warehouse,  or  workhouse,  nor 
shall,  upon  land  or  water  do  any  manner  of  labor,  business,  or 
work,  (works  of  neceessity  and  charity  only  excepted,)  nor 
be  present  at  any  concert  of  music,  dancing  or  any  public  diver- 
sion, show  or  entertainment,  nor  use  any  sport,  game,  play,  or 
recreation,  on  the  Lord's  day,  or  any  part  thereof,  upon  penalty 
of  a  sum  not  exceeding  six  dollars  and  sixty-six  cents,  nor  less 
than  four  dollars  for  each  offence. 

Sec.  3.  That  no  vinter,  retailer  of  strong  liquors,  innholder 
or  other  person  keeping  a  house  of  public  entertainment,  shall 
entertain  or  suffer  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  respective 
towns  where  they  dwell,  or  others  not  being  travellers, 
strangers,  or  lodgers  in  such  houses,  to  abide  and  remain  in  their 
houses,  yards,  orchards  or  fields,  drinking,  or  spending  their 
time  either  idly  or  at  play  or  doing  any  secular  business  on 
the  Lord's  day  or  any  part  thereof,  on  penalty  of  three  dollars 
and  thirty-three  cents,  payable  by  such  vintner,  retailer  or  inn- 
holder,  or  person  keeping  such  house  of  entertainment,  for  each 
person  so  entertained  or  suffered ;  and  every  person  so  drinking 
or  abiding,  (except  as  aforesaid,)  shall  pay  a  fine  not  less  than 


23]  THE  BASIS  OF  LEGISLATION  23 

two  dollars,  nor  more  than  four,  for  each  offence;  and  every 
such  licensed  person,  upon  any  conviction  after  the  first,  shall 
pay  a  fine  of  six  dollars  and  sixty-six  cents  for  each  offence; 
and  having  been  three  times  convicted,  shall  be  debarred  from 
renewing  his  license  forever  after.  And  although  it  is  the  sense 
of  this  Legislature,  that  the  time  commanded  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures to  be  observed  as  holy  time,  includes  a  natural  day,  or 
twenty- four  hours ;  yet  whereas  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion 
concerning  the  beginning  and  the  ending  of  the  Lord's  day 
among  the  good  people  of  this  State,  and  this  Legislature  being 
unwilling  to  lay  any  restrictions,  which  may  seem  unnecessary 
or  unreasonable,  to  persons  of  sobriety  and  conscience : 

Sec.  4.  That  all  the  foregoing  regulations,  respecting  the  due 
observation  of  the  Lord's  day,  shall  be  construed  to  extend  to 
the  time  included  between  the  midnight  preceding  and  the  sun 
setting  of  the  same  day. 

Sec.  5.  That  no  person  shall  be  present  at  any  concert  of 
music,  dancing,  or  other  public  diversion,  nor  shall  any  person 
or  persons  use  any  game,  sport,  play  or  recreation,  on  the  land 
or  water,  on  the  evening  next  preceding  or  succeeding  the 
Lord's  day,  on  pain  of  three  dollars  and  thirty-three  cents  for 
each  offence;  and  no  retailer,  innholder,  or  person  licensed  to 
keep  a  public  house,  shall  entertain,  or  suffer  to  remain,  or  be 
in  their  houses  or  yards  or  other  places  appurtenant,  any  per- 
son or  persons,  (travellers,  strangers  or  lodgers  excepted,) 
drinking  or  spending  their  time  on  the  said  evenings  on  penalty 
of  three  dollars. 

Sec.  6.  That  the  fines  and  penalties  aforesaid,  shall  be,  one 
moiety  thereof  to  the  town  wherein  the  offence  shall  be  com- 
mitted, and  the  other  moiety  thereof  to  any  person  or  persons 
who  shall  inform  and  sue  for  the  same;  to  be  recovered  by  a 
complaint  to  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  with  costs  of  suit,  or  the 
said  fines  may  be  recovered  by  presentment  of  the  Grand  Jury 
before  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  the  County 
wherein  the  offence  or  offences  shall  be  committed,  and  when 
thus  recovered,  shall  enure  to  the  town  wherein  the  offence 


24  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [24 

shall  be  committed.  And  whereas  the  public  worship  of  Al- 
mighty God  is  esteemed  by  Christians  an  essential  part  of  the 
due  observance  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  requires  the  greatest 
of  reverance  for  a  due  performance  of  the  same : 

Sec.  12.  Be  is  further  enacted,  That  the  special  authority 
given  by  this  act  to  Tythingmen,  for  preventing  the  breaches 
thereof,  shall  not  be  construed  or  understood  to  exempt  any 
Sheriff,  Grand  Jurors,  Constables,  or  other  officers  or  persons 
whatsoever,  from  any  obligation  or  duty,  to  cause  this  act  to  be 
put  in  execution,  but  they  shall  be  held  to  take  due  notice  and 
prosecute  all  breaches  thereof,  such  special  authority  notwith- 
standing. 

Sec.  13.  That  all  the  penalties  and  fines,  incurred  and  paid 
for  any  of  the  offences  aforesaid,  mentioned  in  the  seventh, 
eighth,  and  tenth  sections  of  this  act  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
State.  And  that  all  said  offences,  the  penalties  against  which 
exceed  seven  dollars,  shall  be  prosecuted  by  presentment  of  the 
Grand  Jury,  before  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  the 
County  wherein  the  offence  may  be  committed;  But  all  of- 
fences, the  penalty  whereof  does  not  exceed  seven  dollars,  ex- 
cept the  offender  lives  out  of  the  County  in  which  the  offence 
may  be  committed,  shall  be  prosecuted  by  complaint  before  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  such  County;  but  when  the  offender 
lives  out  of  such  County,  he  may  be  prosecuted  by  presentment 
as  aforesaid,  although  the  penalty  does  not  exceed  seven  dollars. 

This  law  remained  in  this  form  until  the  amendment  of 
1864,  which  is  in  effect  today.      (See  page  62). 

§  4.  Regulations  in  Regard  to  Wages. — Wages  had  not 
become  at  this  early  time  the  complicated  problem  that  we 
shall  discuss  later,  but  as  early  as  1821,  an  act  *  was  passed 
protecting  the  laborer  from  "  foreign  attachment,"  giving 
him  the  preferred  claim  to  wages.  Chapter  61,1  Section  15, 
reads :  "  By  reason  of  any  amount  due  from  him  to  the  prin- 
1  Revised  Statutes.  1822. 


25]  THE  BASIS  OF  LEGISLATION  2? 

cipal  defendant,  as  wages  for  his  personal  labor  for  a  time 
not  exceeding  one  month." 

§  5.  Regulation  and  Inspection  of  Dangerous  Machines 
and  the  Protection  from  Fire. — The  early  beginnings  in  the 
regulation  and  inspection  of  dangerous  machines  and  the 
protection  from  fire  may  be  seen  in  the  act x  approved  March 
19,  1 82 1,  providing  "  for  the  prevention  of  danger  by  fire, 
and  the  safe  keeping  of  gunpowder :"  Section  1  of  this  act 
makes  it  a  duty  incumbent  upon  the  Selectmen  to  make  re- 
gulations as  to  the  keeping  of  gunpowder  in  certain  towns. 
Section  2  imposes  a  penalty  for  the  violation  of  such  regu- 
lations and  provides  a  mode  of  recovery.  Section  3  makes 
liable  for  seizure  powder  kept  contrary  to  the  regulations. 
Section  4  provides  for  redress  by  persons  damaged  by  ex- 
plosions of  powder  illegally  kept.  Section  5  gives  power 
of  search  for  powder  to  the  Selectmen,  with  permission  to 
enter  any  building,  while  the  sixth  section,  annexed  to  the 
law  almost  like  a  postscript,  provides  a  penalty  of  from  ten 
to  fifty  dollars  for  anyone  suffering  a  stove,  chimney  or 
stove-pipe  to  be  defective.  Out  of  this  provision  for  in- 
spection and  regulation  grew  the  powers  of  the  factory  de- 
partment sixty-six  years  later. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  shall  show  the  development 
of  these  principles  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  growing  indus- 
trial activities  of  the  State. 

1  Revised  Statutes,  1822. 


CHAPTER  II 

Early  Child  Labor  Laws.     1847-1855 

§  1.  Early  Factory  Conditions,  (1841-1843). — The  early 
days  of  the  new  State  were  busy  ones  for  the  law-makers, 
who  had  a  large  territory  with  a  population  representing 
for  the  most  part  lumber,  fishing  and  agricultural  interests. 
Natural  it  is  that  the  struggling  manufacturers  should  have 
been  left  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  their  own  employees.  Judging  of  the  conditions  in  early 
times  from  a  description  of  the  conditions  at  the  York 
Manufacturing  Company  of  Biddeford,  in  the  official  Regis- 
ter x  of  1841,  it  would  seem  that  probably  little  legislation 
was  needed.  After  describing  this  company  as  one  having 
seventeen  thousand  eight  hundred  spindles,  five  hundred  and 
seventy  looms,  capitalized  at  a  million  dollars,  it  gives  the 
statistics  for  1840  as  eight  hundred  female  operatives,  and 
two  hundred  male,  with  a  pay  roll  of  three  thousand  dollars 
per  week,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  a  year,  and 
goes  on  to  say,  "  No  hands,  male  or  female,  are  employed 
under  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  very  few  under  sixteen. 
None  are  admitted  until  they  have  been  properly  instructed 
in  reading  and  writing,  and  in  order  to  show  their  pro- 
ficiency, they  are  in  all  cases  required  to  write  their  names 
before  going  into  the  mills.  Writing  schools  are  gener- 
ally kept  in  the  evening  for  the  improvement  of  those  who 
desire  it.     It  is  a  general  regulation  of  the  company  that 

1  Maine  Register,  1841  (Portland). 

26  [26 


27]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  2j 

those  in  their  employment  or  living  in  their  houses,  who 
have  not  had  the  kinepox,  shall  be  vaccinated,  and  a  physi- 
cian is  employed  for  this  purpose.  An  arrangement  is  made 
with  the  physician  of  the  place,  at  the  expense  of  the  com- 
pany, to  attend,  in  case  of  sickness,  upon  all  females  in  their 
employment,  without  charge  to  them  for  medical  advice  or 
attendance."  How  authentic  this  account  is,  we  have  no 
means  of  telling,  but  it  appears  to  have  been  written  by  some 
State  official.  Probably  it  is  not  a  true  picture  of  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  twenty-three  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  thirty-eight  persons  reported  *  to  be  employed  in 
manufactories  in  1843  were  laboring,  yet  an  example  like 
this  must  have  had  a  good  effect  on  the  other  companies, 
and  the  competition  for  labor  kept  a  fairly  high  average. 
By  that  year  fourteen  millions  of  capital  had  been  invested 
in  the  manufactories  of  the  State,  and  the  value  of  the 
manufactured  goods  was  over  ten  millions. 

The  State  was  not  without  voluntary  associations  for 
the  aid  of  the  mechanic.  As  early  as  181 5  there  was  in- 
corporated the  Maine  Charitable  Mechanics'  Association, 
which  in  1841  was  described  as  follows:2  "This  Associa- 
tion has  a  fund  of  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 
dollars,  its  design  is  to  encourage  the  mechanical  arts,  to  re- 
lieve indigent  members  and  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased 
members  when  in  need,  and  also  to  assist  members  by  loans 
of  money.  It  is  an  excellent  institution  and  has  much  en- 
hanced respectability  and  intelligence  of  mechanics  in  the 
city  of  Portland." 

§  2.  Educational  Campaign. — The  interest  in  education 
seemed  to  be  growing  from  year  to  year  and  the  school  sys- 
tem was  becoming  more  adequate.     Governor  Kent,  in  his 

1  Maine  Register,  1843. 

2  Maine  Register,  1841,  p.  86. 


28  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [2g 

inaugural  address  x  in  1841,  probably  expressed  the  senti- 
ment of  the  people:  "  We  are  justly  proud  of  our  system 
of  common  schools  and  New  England  can  point  to  no  higher 
evidence  of  wisdom,  patriotism  and  foresight  of  the  fathers 
of  our  land.  The  principle  of  universal  education,  upon 
which  the  system  is  based,  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of 
our  republican  institutions."  The  movement  to  better  the 
facilities  for  general  education  was  greatly  advanced  by  a 
convention  of  teachers  and  those  interested  in  education  held 
in  Augusta,  January,  1846,  where  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, consisting  of  Amos  Brown,  Philip  Eastman,  A.  S. 
Packard  and  Samuel  P.  Benson,  to  study  the  defects  in 
the  educational  system  and  suggest  measures  for  their  re- 
moval. This  committee  submitted  a  memorial 2  to  the  legis- 
lature the  next  year.  As  a  result  the  education  bill 3  of 
1846  was  passed,  which  for  the  first  time  gave  the  State  a 
centralized  educational  agency  or  Board  of  Education,  hav- 
ing the  interest  of  the  whole  State  at  heart.  It  was  only 
when  the  evolution  of  the  school  system  had  reached  this 
point  that  the  State  was  ready  to  undertake  adequate  legis- 
lation for  the  protection  of  the  less  fortunate  children  in 
the  community.  While  this  Board  was  simply  a  confeder- 
ation, as  it  were,  representing  the  town  school  committees, 
still  it  was  the  first  attempt  to  get  away  from  the  old  Massa- 
chusetts town  system.  The  breaking-away  from  the  town 
system  made  possible  the  conception  of  regulations  apply- 
ing to  the  whole  State,  but  it  was  many  years,  as  we  shall 
see,  before  centralized  enforcement  became  possible. 

In   1847  tms   movement  took  effect   in  legislation.     In 
Governor  Dana's  message  to  the  legislature  that  year,  he 

1  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1841,  p.  19. 

2  Bublic  Documents  of  Maine,  1846. 
8  Laws  of  1846. 


2g]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  2Q 

points  out  that *  "  a  large  portion  of  our  population  expects 
no  education  for  their  children,  except  that  they  may  be 
able  to  read  and  write  intelligently  and  acquire  the  rudi- 
ments of  arithmetic.  This  they  feel  will  be  secured  during 
the  period  of  their  minority  even  without  effort. "  The 
Governor  goes  on  to  plead  for  some  means  of  overcoming 
this  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  adequate  edu- 
cation, and  suggests  that  the  legislature  consider  the  estab- 
lishment of  agricultural  schools  as  a  means  to  this  end. 
Fortunate  it  is  that  the  legislature  did  not  restrict  its 
discussion  to  the  agricultural  school  proposed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, but  went  carefully  into  the  whole  problem  involved. 
A  newspaper  2  of  the  time  tells  us  of  an  educational  meet- 
ing held  at  the  State  House  on  the  evening  of  May,  19th, 
1847,  specially  called  to  hear  an  address  by  William  G. 
Crosby,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The  re- 
porter states  that  there  assembled  a  "  recherche  "  audience 
consisting  of  legislators,  the  Governor,  the  Council,  judges, 
the  Board  of  Education,  local  doctors,  and  so  forth. 

"  There  were  among  the  audience  men  of  learning;  men 
representing  the  communities  whose  prejudices  had  been  ex- 
cited, whose  coming — with  truth  it  may  be  said — from  all 
quarters  with  lethargic  indifference  upon  the  subject  of  com- 
mon school  education  is  the  predominant  and  most  unhappy 
feature."  Secretary  Crosby,  we  are  told,  dwelt  upon  the 
failure  in  regard  to  physical  and  moral  education,  and 
pointed  out  that  "  one  of  the  greatest  evils  existing  was 
neglect  of  children  to  attend  punctually  upon  the  means  of 
instruction."  "  Facts  were  cited,"  the  reporter  tells  us, 
"  which  would  astonish  any  man  who  feels  an  interest  in 
popular  education.     The  remedy  for  existing  evils,  it  was 

1  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1847. 

2  Eastern  Argus  (May  22,  1847). 


30  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [30 

remarked,  was  easy  to  be  found.  It  lies  with  the  people,  to 
them  it  belongs  to  furnish  it,  and  with  them  the  respon- 
sibility." 

§3.  The  First  Child  Labor  Bill  (184/). — How  much 
interest  was  excited  by  this  meeting  we  can  only  judge  from 
the  fact  that  some  two  weeks  later,  on  June  2d,  in  the 
Senate,  "  Mr.  Bellamy  laid  on  the  table  a  b.'ll  for  the  better 
instruction  of  youth  in  manufacturing  establishments,  and 
it  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Education.  It  pro- 
vides that  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  should  have  re- 
ceived three  months'  schooling  each  year,  and  those  under 
twelve  years  of  age,  four  months'  schooling."  * 

The  bill  must  have  been  the  cause  of  some  discussion  at 
the  meeting  held  the  next  evening,  June  3d,  of  which  a 
chatty  reporter  in  announcing  it  in  the  "  Notes  by  a 
Straggler,"  2  tells  us, 

The  friends  of  education  will  hold  a  meeting  this  evening  to 
discuss  important  subjects  relating  to  common  school  educa- 
tion. I  am  glad  to  hear  of  this — and  hope  that  the  meetings 
will  be  kept  up  at  least  as  often  as  once  a  week  during  the 
session.  Amid  the  fun  and  frivolity  incident  to  the  Capital 
during  the  session,  it  is  refreshing  to  have  friends  of  progress 
in  education  and  other  measures  of  benefit  to  the  people  awake 
to  their  duty.  Here  center  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
State — the  representatives  of  its  towns  and  villages.  New 
ideas  for  the  promotion  of  education  and  the  advancement  of 
mankind  gathered  here,  may  be  carried  home  with  them,  and 
made  to  scatter  their  benefits  there,  and  thus  do  good  a 
hundredfold. 

§  4.  The  Example  of  England  and  Other  States. — Un- 
fortunate it  is  that  the  reporter  could  not  have  told  us 

1  Eastern  Argus  (June  5th,  1847).  2  Ibid. 


3IJ  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  3I 

exactly  what  took  place  at  the  meeting,  but  it  will  not  be 
impossible  by  a  little  research  on  our  own  part  to  review 
in  brief  a  few  of  the  points  which  must  have  been  presented 
to  so  "  recherche  "  an  audience.  We  may  well  suppose  that 
Mr.  Bellamy,  who  to  the  readers  of  today  would  seem  to 
have  been  looking  forward  with  no  uncertain  vision,  must 
have  been  questioned  as  to  the  sources  from  which  he  de- 
rived his  bill.  If  we  may  picture  him  as  looking  backward 
— and  his  name  would  suggest  the  possibility  to  a  younger 
generation — he  could  not  have  failed  to  develop  the  follow- 
ing facts,  which  he  could  have  secured  without  much  trouble 
from  the  then  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of 
Education,  the  young  Horace  Mann.1 

The  old  country  had  been  closely  followed  in  her  legis- 
lation by  the  sisterhood  of  New  England  States.  The  Health 
and  Morals  of  Apprentices  Act  of  1802  2  had  been  followed 
in  Connecticut  in  18 13  by  an  act 3  providing  that  "  the  pro- 
prietors of  all  manufacturing  establishments  were  required 
to  see  that  all  the  children  of  their  employ  were  taught  read- 
ing, writing  and  arithmetic,  and  the  Selectmen  of  the  town 
required  to  report  violations  to  the  court."  The  Sadler  in- 
vestigation for  Parliament  had  resulted  in  the  adoption  by 
Massachusetts  in  1836  4  of  an  act  providing  that  "  no  chil- 
dren under  fifteen  years  shall  be  employed  to  labor  in  any 
manufacturing  establishment  or  in  any  other  business  unless 
such  child  shall  have  attended  some  public  or  private  school 
...  at  least  three  months  of  the  twelve  next  preceding,  any 
and  every  year  in  which  such  child  shall  be  so  employed 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  of  Massachusetts,  1876,. 
p.  267. 

2  Act  42,  Geo.  Ill,  c.  73. 

3  History  of  Compulsory  Education,  J.  W.  Perrin  (Chicago,  1896), 
p.  26. 

4  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  1836,  p.  950. 


32  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [^2 

.  .  .  .''  and  also  providing  for  forfeiture,  for  each  offense 
by  a  manufacturer,  of  $50,  to  go  to  the  use  of  the  School 
Committee. 

In  1842  1  this  act  was  strengthened  by  placing  the  re- 
sponsibility of  enforcement  on  the  School  Committee  and 
giving  the  fine  to  the  person  prosecuting.  It  further  pro- 
vided that  ten  hours  should  be  the  working  day  for  children 
under  twelve  years,  and  established  a  penalty  for  violation 
of  the  act. 

The  same  year,  1842,2  Connecticut  had  amended  her  legis- 
lation on  the  subject,  providing  for  the  three  months'  school- 
ing for  children  under  fifteen  years,  with  a  penalty  of 
twenty-five  dollars,  and  a  ten-hour  day  for  children  under 
fourteen  years  (Massachusetts  was  twelve  years),  with  a 
penalty  of  seven  dollars  for  each  violation.  School  certi- 
ficates were  required,  and  the  school  committee  had  the 
duty  of  enforcement  and  inspection. 

In  1846 3  New  Hampshire  had  provided  that  children 
under  fifteen  years  of  age  should  attend  school  for  three 
months,  and  those  under  twelve,  six  months,  and  had  pro- 
vided for  certificates,  a  fifty-dollar  penalty  to  go  to  the 
prosecutor,  with  enforcement  by  the  school  committee  aided 
by  the  school  commissioner  and  the  attorney  general. 

Now  the  proposed  Maine  bill  followed  the  Massachusetts 
act  of  1836  in  having  three  months  of  school  required  for 
all  factory  children  under  fifteen  years,  even  to  the  wording. 
It  literally  copied  from  the  New  Hampshire  act  of  1846  the 
provisions  for  six  months'  schooling  for  factory  children 
under  twelve  years  of  age,  reducing  it,  however,  to  four 
months,  and  the  requirement  for  school  certificates  and  en- 

1  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  1842. 

2  Laws  of  Connecticut,  1842. 

8  Laws  of  New  Hampshire,  1846. 


33]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  33 

forcement  by  school  committees,  both  of  which  first  appear 
in  the  Connecticut  act  of  1842.  In  respect  to  the  penalty  of 
fifty  dollars  the  precedent  of  both  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut was  followed,  but  the  division  of  the  fine  money 
between  the  town  and  the  prosecutor  was  a  natural  result 
from  the  confused  precedents  in  the  other  states.  The 
power  to  call  upon  the  attorney  general  to  aid  the  enforce- 
ment came  from  the  New  Hampshire  law.  The  omission 
of  the  ten-hour  restriction,  which  was  in  the  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  laws,  was  an  imitation  of  New  Hampshire, 
where  the  extended  term  of  schooling  for  children  under 
twelve  had  been  substituted. 

§  5.  Value  of  Enforcement  by  School  Committees  Ques- 
tioned.— Unfortunately  the  records  of  not  only  this  meet- 
ing, but  of  the  legislative  debates,  are  limited  to  the  meagre 
notes  found  in  the  official  paper.  The  weakness  in  the  pro- 
posed legislation  is  rather  suggested  by  a  motion  made  in  the 
Senate  on  June  eighteenth  to  the  effect  that  "  the  Commit- 
tee on  Education  be  asked  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of 
making  it  a  penal  offence  when  superintending  school  com- 
mittees in  cities  and  towns  neglect  or  refuse  to  perform  their 
duty."  x  The  answer  to  this  query  is  contained  in  Secretary 
Crosby's  report  for  the  following  years.     He  says,2 

I  regard  the  visits  of  the  school  committees  as  of  incalculable 
value.  The  law  requires  them  "  to  use  their  influence  and  best 
endeavors  that  the  youth  in  the  several  districts  regularly  at- 
tend the  schools."  It  has  been  contended  that  our  superin- 
tending school  committees  possess  the  legal  authority  to  enforce 
the  regular  attendance  of  scholars,  under  the  same  penalty 
[expulsion],  but  I  do  not  so  construe  the  law  creating  that 
office,  in  defining  its  powers  and  duties.     It  has  been  proposed 

1  The  Age  (June  25,  1847). 

2  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  Education  (April  25,  1848),  p.  63. 


34  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [34 

to  legislate  upon  the  subject  [attendance],  but  I  entertain  the 
belief  that  compulsory  enactment  would  be  of  no  permanent 
good,  that  they  would  only  serve  to  keep  alive,  for  a  time,  a 
spirit  of  opposition,  or  open  hostility,  which  would  retard  the 
progress  of  enlightened  public  sentiment,  that  they  would  ulti- 
mately be  a  dead  letter  on  the  statute  book.  .  .  .  The  only 
effective  mode  of  reforming  this  evil  is  by  awaking  the  public 
mind  to  a  due  appreciation  of  a  thorough  education. 

The  bill  in  regard  to  "  youth  in  manufacturing  establish- 
ments "  must  have  been  amended  in  some  way  to  be  limited 
simply  to  "  cotton  and  woolen  "  mills.  In  so  doing  Maine 
followed  more  closely  the  English  legislation  than  that  of 
her  sister  States.  /Ml  we  know  of  the  amendment  is  that 
it  appears  on  the  record  *  of  July  third  in  the  afternoon  that 
there  was  "  passed  to  be  engrossed  the  bill  to  provide  for  the 
better  education  of  youth  in  cotton  and  woolen  mills."  Its 
passage  probably  was  uneventful,  coining  as  it  did  between 
the  official  reception  of  President  Polk,  who  arrived  in  state 
the  previous  morning,  and  the  grand  celebration  2  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  when  all  the  guns  in  the  State  saluted  the 
State's  visitor,  the  national  President. 

§  6.  The  Act  of  1847.  —  An  act 3  to  provide  for  the  better 
education  of  youths  in  cotton  and  woolen  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. 

Sec.  1.  From  and  after  the  1st  day  of  January,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-eight,  no  child  under 
fifteen  years  shall  be  employed  to  labor  in  any  cotton  or  woolen 
manufacturing  establishment  unless  such  child  shall  have  at- 
tended some  public  or  private  day  school,  where  instruction 

1  The  Age  (July  5,  1847). 

2  Ibid. 

3  The  Age  Extra,  1847.     Pub.  Laws  passed  Leg.  1847. 


35]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  35 

is  given  by  a  teacher,  qualified  as  the  law  of  the  State  requires 
teachers  in  our  public  schools  to  be  qualified,  at  least  three 
months  of  the  twelve  months  next  preceding  any  and  every 
year  in  which  said  child  shall  be  so  employed. 

Sec.  2.  No  child  under  the  age  of  twelve  years  shall  be  em- 
ployed in  any  cotton  or  woolen  manufacturing  establishment, 
unless  such  child  shall  have  attended  some  public  or  private 
day  school,  where  instruction  is  given  by  a  teacher  qualified 
as  in  section  first  of  this  act  is  provided,  at  least  four  months 
of  the  twelve  months  next  preceding  any  and  every  year  in 
which  such  child  shall  be  so  employed. 

Sec.  3.  The  owner,  agent  or  superintendent  of  any  cotton 
or  woolen  manufacturing  establishment,  who  shall  employ  any 
child  in  such  establishment  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  without 
first  having  deposited  with  the  clerk  or  agent  thereof,  a  certifi- 
cate from  a  teacher  duly  and  under  oath  certifying  that  such 
child  has  attended  school  under  his  or  her  charge  as  is  provided 
by  this  act,  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  each  offence, 
to  be  recovered  by  indictment  in  any  court  competent  to  try 
the  same,  one-half  to  the  complainant,  and  the  other  half  to  the 
town  where  the  offence  was  committed,  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  public  schools,  to  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  districts  as  the  school  money  is  apportioned. 

Sec.  4.  The  superintending  school  committees  within  the 
State  may  inquire  into  any  violations  of  the  act,  and  make 
report  of  the  same  to  the  county  attorneys  of  the  several 
counties,  and  it  shall  be  their  duty,  as  soon  as  may  be  possible 
after  the  receipt  of  said  report,  to  prosecute  for  such  viola- 
tions. 

The  Governor  approved  this  act  August  2,  1847. 

§  7.  Act  of  1848 — Regulating  Hours  of  Labor. — The  act 
of  1847  omitted  the  regulation  in  regard  to  the  hours  of 
labor  which  had  been  part  of  the  legislation  of  both  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  in  their  acts  of  1842.  This  omis- 
sion seems  to  point  clearly  to  a  lack  of  appreciation  by  the 


36  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [36 

friends  of  education  as  to  the  real  needs  of  labor.  The 
act  seems  to  have  for  a  time  met  the  demands  of  the  educa- 
tors, but  the  labor  interests  come  to  the  front  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  encouraged  probably  by  the  English  legislation  of 
1847.  On  March  thirty-first  there  were  presented  to  the 
Senate  petitions  signed  by  Isaac  Fosset  and  others  "  for  the 
passage  of  a  law  making  ten  hours  a  legal  day."  *  They 
were  "  referred  to  a  joint  select  committee  consisting  in  the 
Senate  of  Messrs.  Chapman,  Chase  and  Doughty."  x  The 
petitions  caused  no  comment  in  the  daily  press,  but  we  find 
on  June  third, 2  that  Edward  F.  Reynolds  and  Daniel  Reed 
and  others  present  a  like  petition.  On  the  fifth,2  Reuben 
Curtis,  George  W.  Cummings,  E.  B.  Foster  and  C.  W. 
Redeout  head  petitions.  June  seventh,2  Lemos  Graves  does 
likewise,  while  on  the  thirtieth  3  of  the  same  month  Joseph 
Staples  adds  to  the  list  his  followers. 

The  Committee  on  Judiciary,  to  which  was  referred  the 
petition  of  Reuben  Blake  and  others  (389),  reported  July 
tenth  of  the  same  year.4  These  good  legislators  argued 
that  there  were  standards  by  law  for  weights  and  measures, 
but  at  present  none  for  men's  work,  and  that  they  were 
living  in  a  high  latitude  in  which  there  were  very  short  days, 
to  which  both  man  and  beast  must  conform.  The  committee 
went  on  to  find :  "  Your  committee  is  firmly  of  the  opinion, 
from  all  the  facts  and  information  they  can  procure,  that 
men  can  accomplish  more  work  in  ten  hours  where  that 
system  is  reduced  to  practice,  than  when  they  work  as  long 
as  they  can  see.  .  .  Labor  has  a  right  to  special  legislation 
as  well  as  capital.  It  also  is  a  right  under  the  Constitution, 
that  one  man  is  not  another  man's  tool."     They  went  on  to 

1  Kennebec  Journal  (June  2,  1848). 

^  Ibid.  (June  9,  1848).  "  Ibid.  (July  7.  1848). 

4  Public  Documents,  1848. 


37]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  ^7 

show  their  attitude  in  regard  to  the  child :  "  One  word  in 
relation  to  the  youth,  whom  the  accompanying*  bill  proposes 
to  protect.  This  country  is  in  fact  approaching  the  old 
country  in  relation  to  manufactories,  and  it  seems  to  your 
committee  particularly  necessary,  that  some  legislation 
should  be  had  to  secure  to  the  youth  who  go  into  these  es- 
tablishments as  operatives,  the  means  in  some  measure  to 
preserve  their  health  and  to  improve  their  minds.  Give  to 
these  youths  but  the  time  and  they  will  find  means  of  im- 
provement." The  report  ends  in  an  eloquent  plea  for  phil- 
anthropies to  give  the  youths  facilities  for  improvement. 
The  report  was  signed  by  Hiram  Chapman,  the  chairman, 
and  was  accompanied  by  a  bill  regulating  the  hours  of  labor. 
On  July  28th  in  the  Senate  Mr.  Chapman  moves  the  con- 
sideration of  the  ten-hour  bill,  which  is  described  in  the 
press  x  as  follows.  "  The  bill  provides  that  ten  hours  shall 
constitute  a  day's  work,  except  in  pursuance  of  an  express 
contract  requiring  a  greater  length  of  time.  It  also  pro- 
vides that  no  agent  or  other  officer  of  any  corporation  shall 
employ  any  minor  under  the  age  of  sixteen  for  more  than 
ten  hours  in  any  one  day  under  penalty  of  ten  dollars." 
Under  the  question  of  engrossing,  the  bill  was  debated, 
Messrs,  Chapman,  Dodge  and  Pool  defending,  while  it  was 
opposed  by  Messrs.  Fluet,  Thomas,  Tripp,  Dumost,  Town- 
send,  Fox,  Hale  and  Dyer.  The  motion  was  made  to 
amend  by  striking  out  the  provision  that  it  should  go  into 
effect  upon  the  approval  of  the  Governor.  This  was  passed. 
The  bill  was  laid  on  the  table  indefinitely  by  a  vote  of  nine- 
teen to  eleven.  The  next  day 2  Mr.  Chapman  moved  to 
reconsider  the  bill,  stating  that  the  Senate  would  hear  from 
the  "  three  thousand  petitioners,   who  would   not   remain 

1  Kennebec  Journal  (August  4,  1848). 

2  Ibid. 


38  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [38 

content  with  the  action  of  this  legislature  in  regard  to  it." 
Senator  Treat  said  a  portion  of  his  constituents,  among 
those  engaged  in  the  mechanical  arts,  were  induced  to  de- 
sire its  passage.  How  it  was  with  another  great  interest 
among  his  constituents,  the  agricultural,  he  had  not  had  the 
opportunity  to  ascertain."  On  August  ninth  x  the  bill  "  was 
amended  in  concurrence  and  passed  to  engrossing."  The 
amendment  offered  was  that  in  the  last  part  of  Section  2, 
providing  that  "  all  fines  shall  be  paid,  one  half  to  the  city, 
town  or  plantation,  where  the  offence  is  committed,  and 
the  other  half  to  the  persons  so  held  to  labor  or  to  their  par- 
ents or  guardians  on  complaint  to  any  court  competent  to 
try  the  case."  It  was  also  provided  that  it  should  not  go 
into  effect  until  April  20,  1849.  ^  *s  probable  that  the 
agricultural  interests  were  afraid  of  the  bill,  for  a  further 
amendment  was  added  at  this  last  joint  committee  meeting 
providing  that  the  section  should  not  apply  to  monthly  labor 
or  agricultural  employment.  The  bill  as  approved  2  by  the 
Governor  on  August  tenth  read  as  follows  : 

Sec.  1.  In  all  contract  for  labor,  ten  hours  shall  be  a  legal 
day's  work,  and  no  person  shall  be  required  or  holden  to  per- 
form more  than  ten  hours'  labor  in  any  one  day,  except  in 
pursuance  of  an  express  contract  requiring  a  greater  length  of 
time;  provided  the  provision  of  this  section  shall  not  apply  to 
monthly  labor  or  agricultural  employments. 

Sec.  2.  No  minor  under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be 
employed  in  any  labor  for  any  manufacturing  or  other  corpora- 
tion for  more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one  day,  and  if  any  manu- 
facturer, or  agent,  or  other  officer  of  any  corporation,  shall 
employ  any  such  minor  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this 
section,  he  or  they  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding 

1  The  Age  (August  15,  1848). 

2  The  Age  Extra,  1848. 


39]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  39 

one  hundred  dollars ;  and  all  fines  shall  be  paid,  one  half  to  the 
city,  town  or  plantation  where  the  offence  is  committed,  the 
other  half  to  the  person  so  held  to  labor,  or  to  their  parent  or 
guardian,  on  complaint  to  any  court  competent  to  try  the  case. 
Sec.  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  and  be  in  force  on  and  after 
April  20,  1849.1 

§  8.  Attempt  to  Repeal  the  Act  of  1848. — In  the  next 
legislature,2  1849,  tne  bill  was  introduced  on  July  12th  to 
amend  the  bill  of  the  year  before  by  repealing  the  second 
section  relating  to  the  employment  of  minors  by  manufac- 
turing corporations,  but  was  laid  on  the  table  by  the  friends 
of  the  children.  On  August  4th  it  was  again  laid  on  the 
table.  On  August  13th  the  motion  to  postpone  was  lost  by 
a  vote  of  43  to  51.  The  amendment  was  passed  by  a  vote 
°f  57  to  52>  and  sent  to  De  engrossed.  The  next  day  final 
action  was  taken  by  sending  the  bill  to  the  Governor.  On 
August  15th  the  Governor  returned  the  bill,  together  with 
another  bill  relating  to  common  sellers  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  The  Governor  stated  3  that  "  the  legislature  af- 
forded me  no  opportunity  to  devote  to  them  the  considera- 
tion which  each  of  these  measures,  from  their  importance 
demands  or  to  communicate  at  length  on  my  objections  to 
them.  The  first  bill  repeals  an  act  of  1848  which  prohibits 
the  employment  of  minors  under  the  age  of  sixteen  for  more 
than  ten  hours  in  any  one  day.  I  regard  the  repeal  of  the 
law,  to  say  the  least  as  a  measure  of  very  doubtful  policy." 

The  Governor  must  have  given  extremely  careful  consid- 
eration to  the  subject,  for  at  the  opening  of  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  he  sent  the  following  message,  which 
would  do  credit  to  any  governor,  or  president,  for  that 
matter,  even  in  the  early  part  of  the  twentieth  century. 

1  The  Age  (Dec.  6,  1848).  2  The  Age  (August,  1849). 

■  The  Age  Special  (August  18,  1849) . 


4o  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [40 

§  p.  Governor  Dana's  Child  Labor  Message  of  1850} — On 
the  morning  of  the  final  adjournment  of  the  last  legislature, 
a  bill  entitled  "  an  act  to  amend  the  eighty-third  chapter  of 
the  laws  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty  eight "  received  its 
final  passage,  and  was  presented  for  my  approval.  That  chap- 
ter contains,  section  two,  which  is  as  follows :  "  No  minor 
under  the  age  of  sixteen  years  shall  be  employed  in  any  labor 
for  any  manufacturing  or  other  corporation  for  more  than  ten 
hours  in  any  one  day;  and  if  any  manufacturer,  or  agent,  or 
other  officer  of  any  corporation,  shall  employ  any  such  minor 
in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  section,  he  or  they  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars ;  and 
all  fines  and  forfeitures  accruing  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be 
paid,  one  half  to  the  city,  town  or  plantation,  where  the  offence 
is  committed,  the  other  half  to  the  person  so  held  to  labor  or  to 
their  parent  or  guardian,  on  complaint  to  any  court  competent 
to  try  the  same."  The  bill  in  question  repeals  that  section. 
Entertaining  doubts  of  the  expediency  of  repealing  this  provi- 
sion, and  being  deprived  of  an  opportunity  for  deliberation 
upon  the  subject,  by  the  immediate  adjournment  of  the  legisla- 
ture, I  retained  the  bill  for  further  advisement.  The  considera- 
tion since  given  it,  has  not  removed,  but  confirmed,  those 
doubts. 

The  dependence,  degradation  and  want,  of  the  operatives  in 
other  countries — the  mental  and  physical  imbecility  to  which  a 
large  portion  of  them  are  reduced,  have  excited  the  fears  of 
many  patriotic  minds,  that  the  large  and  increasing  employment 
of  capital  and  labor,  in  like  pursuits,  in  our  own  country,  must 
produce  like  results.  While  on  the  other  hand,  the  present 
condition  of  our  operatives,  well  fed,  clothed  and  paid,  healthy 
and  intelligent,  is  presented  as  undeniable  evidence  that  those 
fears  are  unfounded.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  our 
manufacturing  interest  is,  comparatively,  in  its  infancy,  and 
that  consequently,  its  effects  upon  our  population  are  but 
slightly  developed. 

1  Public  Doc,  1850,  Senate  Doc.  21. 


UNIV 


4I]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  4! 

In  other  countries,  the  occupation  has  descended  from  father 
to  son,  from  mother  to  daughter,  generation  after  generation; 
the  child  is  taken  from  the  cradle  to  the  factory;  the  only 
atmosphere  he  breathes,  is  that  of  the  mill ;  the  only  education 
he  receives,  is  perfection  in  his  art;  impure  air,  and  stinted 
mental  food,  forbid  development  of  mind  or  body.  By  such 
a  process,  gradual,  though  sure  in  its  effects,  the  foreign 
operative  has  been  divested,  in  a  great  degree,  of  the  most 
desirable  attributes  of  humanity.  But  in  this  country,  even 
around  our  most  extensive  manufacturing  establishments,  we 
have  not,  within  the  strict  meaning  of  the  expression,  a  manu- 
facturing population.  A  large  proportion  of  our  operatives, 
are  those  who  have  been  reared  in  the  free  air  and  healthful 
exercise  of  the  farmer's  home,  participating  in  all  the  varied 
enjoyments,  cares  and  duties,  of  ordinary  domestic  life,  and 
in  all  the  opportunities,  which  our  institutions  afford,  'for  a 
good  practical  education.  With  health,  habits  and  characters, 
thus  formed,  and  fitted  for  usefulness  in  any  sphere,  they  resort 
to  the  factory  for  temporary  employment,  and  soon  return 
again  to  other  pursuits.  A  small  portion,  however,  adopt  this 
as  a  permanent  occupation,  and  fix  their  homes  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  manufacturing  establishments.  Of  these  the  number 
is  annually  increasing  and  rapidly  forming  a  permanent  manu- 
facturing population,  which  before  another  generation  has 
passed,  will  be  sufficiently  numerous  to  perform  a  large  propor- 
tion of  all  the  requisite  labor.  And  the  question  arises,  shall 
they  be  required  to  give  to  their  children,  a  full  opportunity, 
such  as  they  received,  for  physical,  moral,  and  mental  develop- 
ment, to  fit  them  for  usefulness  and  success,  in  any  sphere  of 
action,  which  they  may  afterwards  select?  or  shall  they  be  al- 
lowed to  limit,  from  childhood,  their  mental,  as  well  as  natural 
vision,  by  the  walls  of  a  cotton  mill,  and  thus  make  them,  for 
life,  the  mere  appendages  of  the  loom  and  spindle  ? 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  assumed,  that  this  is  a  subject,  which 
may  be  safely  left  to  the  discretion  of  parents,  and  that  there- 
fore, legislative  regulations  are  unnecessary.     In  other  coun- 


42  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [42 

tries,  it  has  been  thus  left  to  the  discretion  of  parents,  and  a 
numerous,  degraded  population  are  now  reaping  the  conse- 
quences, in  misery  and  wretchedness.  Again,  it  may  be  asked, 
why  may  not  a  manufacturing,  as  well  as  any  other  population, 
regulate  the  labor  and  education  of  their  children?  The 
answer  is  obvious,  that  we  have  no  other  industrial  pursuit  in 
which  large  numbers  of  children  can  be  constantly  and  profit- 
ably employed.  It  is  a  fact  well  known,  that  thousands  of 
children  in  our  state  are  absent  from  our  public  schools,  merely 
from  thoughtlessness  and  indifference  on  the  part  of  parents. 
If  the  well  being  of  these  children  can  be  thus  overlooked, 
from  mere  indolent  neglect,  how  greatly  must  this  evil  increase, 
when  to  this  cause  is  added,  a  constant  pecuniary  reward  for 
disregarding  their  true  interests.  In  our  manufacturing  towns, 
this  reward  is  offered;  the  operative,  who  is  a  parent,  can 
make  an  important  addition  to  his  earnings,  by  taking  his 
children  with  him  to  his  labor,  and  thus  the  temptation  is  daily 
before  him.  Hence  the  necessity  for  legislative  interference, 
which  does  not  exist  in  relation  to  any  other  industrial  pursuit. 

Here  may  be  found  the  hidden  cause,  that  has  undermined 
and  deteriorated  the  manufacturing  population,  in  every  other 
country.  It  is  not,  that  this  employment  tends  less  than  many 
others  to  health  of  body  or  activity  of  mind,  but  because  the 
earnings  of  the  child  constitute  an  ever  present  temptation  to 
the  parent,  to  impose  upon  him,  toil  and  confinement,  incon- 
sistent with  a  full  development,  that  can  only  be  acquired  under 
the  discipline  of  home,  and  the  school  room,  and  in  the  en- 
joyment of  the  free  air  of  Heaven.  The  cause  which  has 
gradually  produced  such  results  elsewhere,  must,  in  time,  pro- 
duce the  same  results  here,  unless  counteracted.  And  to  this 
end,  legal  restraint  should  be  given,  in  aid  of  parental  judg- 
ment and  affection,  in  their  unceasing  struggle  with  parental 
cupidity  and  necessity. 

We  are  destined  to  be  a  great  manufacturing  people;  and 
it  depends  upon  wise  legislation  whether  that  destiny  shall 
he  to  us,  a  blessing  or  a  curse.     The  interest  is  now  in  its 


43]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  43 

infancy,  and  if  properly  regulated,  the  anticipations  of  evil, 
which  many  entertain,  may  never  be  realized.  We  may  con- 
tinue to  exhibit  the  present  favorable  contrast  between  the 
operatives  of  this,  and  all  other  countries.  Maine  has  no  laws 
regulating  manufacturing  labor  or  education,  except  the  one 
proposed  to  be  repealed,  by  this  bill,  which  prohibits  the  em- 
ployment of  minors  less  than  sixteen  years  of  age,  more  than 
ten  hours  in  a  day.  No  one  will  pretend,  that  persons  under 
that  age  can,  with  impunity,  be  employed  daily,  for  a  greater 
length  of  time.  But  it  is  said,  that  mills  must  be  in  operation 
more  than  ten  hours  a  day,  and  that  it  is  consequently  necessary 
to  employ  only  such  as  can  labor  more  than  that  time,  and 
that  therefore  many  a  child  is  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  af- 
fording, by  his  earnings,  pecuniary  relief  and  comfort  to 
indigent  parents  or  friends.  If  the  prohibition  was  only  to 
operate  upon  a  few  isolated  cases  of  this  nature,  now  or  Here- 
after, it  would  be  unwise  to  continue  it.  A  child  might, 
perhaps,  relieve  by  its  earnings,  the  necessities  of  a  poor 
widowed  mother,  and  derive  much  happiness,  with  but  little 
perceptible  injury,  from  the  effort;  but  if  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  such  relief,  the  state  permit  that  child,  and  with  it, 
others,  and  their  descendants,  for  three  or  four  generations, 
to  engage  thus  in  premature  toil,  it  permits  the  mother  to  be 
relieved,  at  the  incalculable  cost,  of  entailing  upon  thousands 
of  offspring,  mental  and  bodily  imbecility,  poverty  and  wretch- 
edness. The  descent  to  such  a  condition,  from  such  a  cause, 
is  imperceptible  but  sure,  and  more  to  be  feared,  because  its 
silent  progress  awakens  no  effort  for  its  arrest.  Our  legisla- 
tion should  be  directed  to  the  prevention  of  this  wholesale  dilu- 
tion of  the  race,  even  though  it  produce  in  some  instances  in- 
convenience and  suffering. 

I  would  not,  from  these  remarks,  be  understood,  as  ad- 
vocating a  system  of  legislation,  for  the  purpose  of  protection 
of  labor  against  capital;  for  this  should  not  be  regarded  as  a 
question  of  labor,  but  of  education.  And  by  education,  I 
mean,  not  merely  the  instruction  which  the  school  affords,  but 


44  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [44 

the  full  growth — the  harmonious  expansion  of  both  the  inner 
and  the  outer  man.  Let  the  legislature  discharge  the  duty, 
which  the  constitution  imposes,  of  exercising  a  watchful  care, 
in  providing  such  an  education  for  our  youth,  and  it  never  will 
be  required  to  act,  in  protection  of  the  laborer,  from  the  op- 
pression of  the  capitalist.  Under  our  free  government,  if 
honestly  and  equally  administered,  for  the  good  of  all,  enter- 
prising, intelligent  labor,  must  ever  be  as  independent  of  capital, 
as  capital  can  be  of  such  labor ;  the  one  can  never  fall  a  prey,  to 
the  unreasonable  demands  of  the  other,  until  it  becomes  en- 
feebled, ignorant  and  degraded. 

Instead  of  repealing  the  present  prohibition,  I  would  recom- 
mend, that  it  be  retained,  until  an  opportunity  is  had  for  a 
careful  examination  of  the  whole  subject,  and  the  adoption  of 
such  regulations  as  will  for  long  succeeding  years,  command 
the  gratitude  of  a  class  of  healthful,  intelligent  and  independent 
operatives. 

Governor  Dana's  message  placed  the  rights  of  the  factory 
child  to  education  squarely  before  the  people  of  Maine,  and 
his  veto  of  the  amendment  gave  them  the  protection  of  a  law 
equal  to  that  of  any  other  state  at  the  time. 

§  10.  Regulation  of  Local  Compulsory  Education. — The 
Governor,  in  speaking  of  the  labor  laws  of  1847-8,  justified 
them  on  a  purely  educational  basis,  and  as  such  they  ap- 
pealed to  the  most  enlightened  elements  in  the  community. 
But  it  was  just  this  educational  basis  which  was  their 
greatest  source  of  weakness.  It  lay  in  their  enforcement 
by  the  still  only  partially  organized  educational  authorities. 
Even  in  the  same  year,  1850,  the  feeling  of  the  inadequacy 
of  this  legislation  was  so  strong  that  a  bill 1  was  passed  pro- 
viding that  the  town  authorities  might  provide  for  habitual 
truants  between  the  ages  of  six  and  fifteen,  who  were  with- 

xPub.  Doc.  1850,  House  Doc.  9,  p.  23. 


45]  EARLY  CHILD  LABOR  LAWS  45 

out  occupation,  by  any  ordinance  which  did  not  conflict 
with  the  constitution.1  It  also  allowed  them  to  impose 
penalties  under  these  laws. 

It  was  perfectly  logical  for  those  who  were  interested  in 
the  protection  of  factory  children  to  see  that  they  were  only 
a  part  of  the  whole  number  of  children  who  need  to  attend 
school.  This  act  of  1850  extended  the  right  of  education 
to  all  children,  which  the  act  of  1847  nad  only  insured  to 
factory  children.  Unfortunately  it  was  only  a  right  which 
could  be  granted  by  the  town  authorities  if  they  chose. 

In  1853  ^e  Maine  Education  Association  2  was  organ- 
ized, and  through  its  influence  more  definite  legislation  was 
passed  in  1855.  In  that  year  a  strong  bill 3  was  introduced 
providing  that  "  if  any  person  shall  while  the  public  school 
is  in  operation  furnish  employment  to  any  child  required 
by  law  to  attend  such  school,  thus  affording  the  child  in- 
ducement to  disregard  the  requisites  of  the  law,  he  shall  for- 
feit and  pay  five  dollars  for  each  day  the  said  child  shall  thus 
be  hindered  from  attendance,"  but  the  final  act 4  as  ap- 
proved March  14,  1855,  appears  simply  as  an  amendment 
to  the  educational  act  of  1850,  and  still  leaves  enforcement 
and  regulation  to  the  school  committee.     In  it 

all  towns  are  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  make  all  need- 
ful provisions  and  arrangements  concerning  habitual  truants 
and  children  between  the  age  of  six  and  fifteen  years  not 
attending  school  without  any  regular  and  lawful  occupation 
and  growing  up  in  ignorance,  and  may  also  make  such  ordi- 
nance and  by-laws  respecting  such  children  as  may  be  most 
conducive  to  their  welfare  and  the  good  order  of  such  town 

1  Lazvs  of  1850,  art.  cxciii,  §  14. 

2  Maine  Register,  1855,  p.  176. 

3  House  Journal,  1855.    "  Public  Instruction  of  Youths,"  art.  xli,  §  4. 

4  Laws  of  1855,  chap,  cliv,  sec.  14. 


46  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [46 

and  there  shall  be  annexed  to  such  provision  suitable  penalties 
not  exceeding  any  one  breach  a  fine  of  twenty  dollars :  provided, 
That  said  ordinance  shall  not  be  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  the 
State. 

Even  this  law,  which  for  the  first  time  compelled  the  au- 
thorities to  provide  facilities  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law, 
leaves  that  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  local  authorities. 
The  report f  of  the  Secretary  of  Education  in  1861  shows  us 
that  even  as  late  as  that,  invoking  of  centralized  authority 
was  thought  unwise.  He  says,  "  We  do  not  feel  authorized 
to  compel  the  attendance  of  children  by  law  as  is  done  in 
some  countries." 

1  Report  of  Secretary  of  Education,  1861,  p.  10. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Movement  from  Local  to  State  Regulation  and 

Enforcement  Aided  by  Industrial  Conditions 

(1861-1886) 

§  1.  Investigations  of  1868  and  18/4. — The  outbreak  of 
the  War  took  the  whole  attention  of  the  community,  and 
little  was  paid  for  some  years  to  these  problems.  It  was 
not  until  the  troops  came  marching  home  that  the  people  of 
Maine  could  begin  to  take  note  of  their  losses,  not  only  in 
men,  but  in  the  industrial  line.  In  1869  J-  A.  Poor  was 
appointed  general  statistician  of  the  State  to  make  a  re- 
port x  which  had  been  requested  by  the  Department  of  the 
Interior.  In  this  report  he  says,  "  The  progress  of  Maine 
in  wealth,  population  and  industrial  importance  had  nearly 
kept  pace  with  that  of  the  whole  country  from  1790  to 
1836  .  .  .  Till  the  legislature  of  Maine  in  1836  resorted 
to  measures  to  restrict  the  introduction  of  capital  into  rail- 
roads and  manufactories,  the  two  great  agencies  required 
for  her  appropriate  development.  Maine  at  once  began  to 
decline  in  population  and  influence  as  shown  by  the  census 
returns  of  1840,  1850  and  i860."  These  rather  dismal 
statements  evidently  did  not  satisfy  the  people  of  Maine, 
who  must  have  realized  the  remarkable  development  in  pros- 
perity which  had  set  in,  for  in  1873,  February  24th,  the  fol- 
lowing resolve  was  approved  by  the  Governor : 2 

1  Leg.  Doc.  1869;  Sen.  Doc.  1. 

2  Statistics  of  Industries  and  Finances  of  Maine,  p.  1  (Augusta,  1884). 

47]  47 


48  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [48 

That  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  there  be 
annually  collected,  arranged  and  printed,  in  condensed  form, 
statistical  details,  relating  to  all  departments  of  labor  in  the 
state,  especially  in  its  relation  to  manufacturing,  mining,  com- 
mercial and  industrial  interests,  together  with  the  valuation  and 
appropriations  for  various  purposes,  of  the  several  towns  and 
cities  of  the  state.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  person  employed 
in  the  compilation  of  said  statistics,  to  secure,  by  circulars  to, 
and  correspondence  with  assessors  and  other  persons,  as  com- 
plete a  compilation  as  practicable,  of  the  industrial  progress  of 
the  state ;  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  assessors  of  the  several  towns, 
to  furnish  the  statistics  called  for,  as  completely  and  promptly 
as  practicable.  To  meet  the  expense  of  said  compilation  the 
governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw  his  warrants  upon  the 
treasury  for  an  amount  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars, 
from  any  moneys  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

As  a  result  of  the  resolve,  E.  S.  Whitman  was  ap- 
pointed statistician,  and  his  report,1  based  upon  the  census 
of  1870,  which  was  taken  the  year  after  the  report  of  Mr. 
Poor,  showed  a  very  gratifying  state  of  affairs.  He  says, 
"  Notwithstanding  there  was  a  loss  of  population  the  last  de- 
cade in  Maine,  there  was  a  steady  increase  in  the  products  of 
our  manufacturing  industry  and  wealth,  and  this,  too,  while 
the  resources  of  the  State  were  taxed  on  account  of  the  war 
of  the  rebellion.  The  growth  of  manufactures  from  i860 
to  1870  was  108%,  making  no  allowance  for  discount  to 
bring  currency  values  to  the  gold  standard.  The  growth 
since  1870,  according  to  our  estimate,  has  been  21%.  It  is 
evident  that  Maine  has  entered  upon  a  new  era  of 
prosperity  and  growth  since  1870."  He  also  goes  on 
to  prove  that  the  condition  of  women  and  children  in  in- 
dustry has  been  bettered  and  that  there  are  probably  few 
children  engaged  in  gainful  occupations. 

1  E.  S.  Whitman,  Statistics  of  Maine  Industry,  1873,  p.  II. 


49]  LOCAL  TO  STATE  REGULATION  4g 

This  demand  for  industrial  statistics  was  probably  en- 
couraged by  the  remarkable  findings  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  which  was  started  in  1869.1 

§  2.  The  First  Mandatory  Act  Regarding  Attendance 
(1875). — Despite  the  good  conditions  reported  by  the 
Statistician,  Mr.  Whitman,  Governor  Dingley  pointed  out 
in  his  annual  address  of  1874 2  that  "there  were  13,436 
persons  in  the  State  above  ten  years  of  age  who  could  not 
read  or  write."  He  blames  this  to  the  school  system,  but 
goes  on  to  say,  "  Even  the  factory  act  in  this  State,  which 
requires  certain  attendance  at  school  of  children  who  work 
in  manufacturing  establishments  is  a  dead  letter."  He 
pleads  the  need  of  creating  public  sentiment  on  this  point. 
The  following  year  Governor  Dingley  makes  more  definite 
the  need  of  some  law  to  compel  school  attendance.  "  In 
the  judgment  of  many  of  the  best  educators,"  he  says,3  "  the 
time  has  arrived  for  the  State  to  enact  a  law  making  at- 
tendance upon  some  school  a  certain  portion  of  the  year 
obligatory  upon  children  between  eight  and  fourteen  years. 
In  my  annual  address  a  year  ago,  I  urged  an  action  of  this 
character  whenever  public  sentiment  should  be  advanced 
sufficiently  to  secure  its  enforcement  to  any  considerable 
extent.  Discussion  within  a  year  or  two  has  certainly 
aroused  public  attention  to  the  dangers  which  threaten  free 
institutions  from  the  many  ranks  of  ignorance  and  the  in- 
dications are  so  hopeful  that  such  an  enactment  would  not 
be  suffered  to  remain  a  dead  letter  but  would  on  the  con- 
trary prove  in  many  cases  an  instrument  for  good,  that  I 
recommend  this  important  subject  to  your  favorable  con- 
sideration." 

1  Annual  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1907, 
P.  13. 

2  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1874,  P-  18. 

3  Ibid.,  1874,  P-  19- 


5o  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [$Q 

After  careful  consideration,  the  legislature  of  that  year 
passed  a  bill  x  providing  that  every  child  between  the  ages 
of  nine  and  fifteen  be  required  to  attend  school  at  least 
twelve  weeks  in  every  year  each  year  unless  excused  by  the 
school  officers.  This  was  the  first  mandatory  act  regarding 
school  children  and  marked  a  forward  step  as  compared  with 
the  local  regulations,  but  still  the  execution  of  this  law  de- 
volved on  the  school  committees  and  supervisors,  for  whom 
no  help  was  offered.  To  put  a  premium  upon  enforcement, 
the  Governor  in  his  message 2  of  1878  recommended  that  the 
attendance,  rather  than  the  number  of  scholars  enrolled, 
should  be  the  basis  for  the  apportionment  of  school  money, 
but  this  was  not  incorporated  in  the  school  law. 

§  3.  The  Rise  of  The  Labor  Movement  Results  in  a  De- 
mand For  Better  State  Regulations. — The  rise  of  the  labor 
movement  following  upon  the  panic  tended  to  give  to  this 
educational  movement  a  more  industrial  spirit,  and  in  1880 
we  find  that  the  friends  of  the  children  have  looked  again 
to  the  law  of  1848,  providing  for  the  education  of  youths  in 
cotton  and  woolen  manufactories.  The  amendment  simply 
strengthened  the  old  bill,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  secretary  charged  with  copying  the  bill 3  gives  it  the 
title,  "An  act  to  amend  an  act,  Section  16,  Chapter  48  of 
the  Revised  Statutes,  relating  to  the  employment  of  chil- 
dren in  cotton  and  woolen  mills."  For  the  first  time,  the 
distinctly  labor  appeal  for  correctional  legislation  is  clearly 
discernible.  The  bill  provided  for  "  the  substitution  for  the 
word  '  fifty  '  between  the  words  '  forfeit '  and  '  dollars  '  on 
the  third  line  the  words  '  one  hundred  '  and  for  the  word 
1  may  '  between  the  words  '  committee '   and  '  inquire  '  in 

1  Acts  and  Resolves,  1875,  items  i,  ii,  iii,  pp.  7-8. 

2  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1878,  p.  21. 

3  Acts  and  Resolves,  1880,  chap.  cci. 


ijl]  LOCAL  TO  STATE  REGULATION  ^ 

the  sixth  line  and  for  the  word  'is  to '  in  the  last  line  the 
word  '  shall '  so  that  the  said  section  shall  read  as  follows : 
"Any  agent  or  superintendent  of  any  factory  for  each  viola- 
tion of  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  section  forfeits  one 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  recovered  by  indictment,  one  half  to 
the  prosecutor,  and  the  other  to  the  town  where  the  offence 
is  committed,  to  be  added  to  its  school  money.  The  super- 
intending school  committee  shall  inquire  into  such  viola- 
tions and  report  them  to  a  County  Attorney  who  on  receipt 
thereof  shall  prosecute  therefor.'  "  Thus  by  small  degrees 
a  more  rigid  law  was  being  developed. 

The  next  five  years  were  years  filled  with  much  strife  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  which  will  be  dealt  with  later  in  the 
discussion  of  the  wage  problem.  Little  or  nothing  was 
attempted  in  the  children's  legislation  until  the  year  1885. 
In  the  annual  message  *  of  Governor  Robie  it  is  stated  that 
"  the  employment  of  women  and  minors  by  our  manufactur- 
ing corporations  has  created  considerable  criticism  in  con- 
sequence of  the  violation  of  the  law  restricting  them  each 
day  to  a  limited  period  of  labor,  and  I  would  suggest  that 
the  matter  be  sufficiently  considered  to  the  end  that  the  law 
shall  be  rigidly  enforced  by  additional  amendments  so  that 
the  hours  be  fixed  for  labor  corresponding  with  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  laboring  classes."  That  year  three  bills  were 
introduced,  none  of  which  passed.  They  were  all  entitled 
"An  act  to  regulate  the  hours  of  labor  and  employment  in 
manufacturing  establishments."  2  House  Bill  No.  132  ap- 
plied only  to  minors,  making  fifteen  years  the  period  of 
limitation,  but  allowing  employment  of  children  between  ten 
and  fifteen  who  had  a  certificate  of  attendance  at  a  public 
school  for  four  months  for  each  year  preceding.     It  re- 

1  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1885,  p.  42. 

2  House  Journal,  1885. 


52  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [52 

stricted  the  number  of  hours  to  ten  hours  per  day  or  sixty 
per  week  for  children  between  ten  and  twelve,  but  permitted 
work  after  school  hours  for  children  over  twelve.  House 
Bill  No.  131  was  identical  with  No.  132,  except  that  it  pro- 
vided that  the  ten-hour  clay  or  the  sixty-hour  week  should 
apply  to  minors  under  eighteen  and  women.  It  provided 
for  inspectors  to  be  appointed  on  request,  the  penalty  a  fine 
between  fifty  and  one  hundred  dollars,  differing  slighty 
from  the  preceding  bill  which  had  a  fine  of  one  hundred 
dollars.  House  Bill  No.  11  was  similar  to  this  second,  ex- 
cept that  it  provided  that  half  the  fines  should  go  to  the 
prosecutor  and  half  to  the  town,  and  the  town  was  to  name 
constables  or  inspectors  of  manufacturing  establishments 
and  provide  for  their  support,  giving  them  full  power  to  in- 
vestigate. The  failure  of  these  bills  was  probably  due  to 
the  strong  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturers,  who 
were  attempting,  to  restrain  the  ever-increasing  demands  of 
the  labor  movement. 

§  4.  State  Regulations  Result  in  1887. — This  awakening 
found  expression  in  the  political  campaigns  of  the  next  year, 
but  we  must  defer  the  discussion  of  this  topic  until  the  fol- 
lowing chapters.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  movement  which 
we  have  been  tracing  came  to  a  head  the  next  year,  when 
the  feeble  attempts  of  the  statisticians  grew  into  a  bureau 
of  labor  statistics  and  the  labor  movement  brought  about  the 
establishment  of  a  factory  department,  to  enforce  the  State 
regulations  in  regard  to  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  children,  while  even  the  educational  acts 
were  made  to  provide  truant  officers. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Attempts  Toward  Regulation  of  Wages 

§  I.  Knights  of  Labor. — The  constitution  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor,  adopted  in  1886,  shows  us  the  direction  taken  by 
the  labor  movement.     The  opening  paragraphs  read: 

The  alarming  developments  and  aggressiveness  of  great  capi- 
talists and  corporations,  unless  checked,  will  inevitably  lead  to 
the  pauperization  and  hopeless  degradation  of  the  toiling 
masses. 

It  is  imperative,  if  we  desire  to  enjoy  the  full  blessings  of 
life,  that  a  check  be  placed  upon  unjust  accumulation,  and  the 
power  for  evil  of  aggressive  wealth. 

This  much  desired  object  can  be  accomplished  only  by  the 
united  efforts  of  those  who  obey  the  Divine  injunction:  "  In 
the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread." 

Therefore  we  have  formed  the  order  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  and  directing  the  power 
of  the  industrial  masses,  not  as  a  political  party,  for  it  is  more 
— in  it  are  crystallized  sentiments  and  measures  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  people. 

Seven  hundred  thousand  working-men  x  in  1886  accepted 
this  constitution  from  which  we  have  just  quoted.  Of  these, 
seventeen 2  thousand  were  in  Maine,  thirteen  thousand  of 
whom  had  joined  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  during 
the  previous  year.     No  wonder  was  it  that  an  industrial 

1  Hollander  and  Barnett,  Studies  in  American  Trade  Unionism,  p.  378. 

2  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1887,  p.  157. 

53]  53 


54  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [54 

revolution  was  feared  when  a  labor  organization  such  as 
this  was  growing  more  powerful  every  day  and  each  year 
the  reforms  demanded  were  growing  in  proportion.  The 
cry  of  '  the  greatest  good  for  the  greatest  number  !  was  be- 
ing backed  by  the  power  of  the  strike  and  boycott.  Not 
only  political  parties  hurried  to  proclaim  affiliation  with  the 
labor  cause,  but  men  were  nominated  on  a  platform  of  the 
order  and  elected  to  the  legislature  with  the  purpose  of  in- 
troducing there  the  reform  measures  of  the  platform  of  the 
organization.  T.  J.  Lyons,  a  stone-cutter  of  Vinal  Haven, 
a  member  of  the  Rock  Bound  Assembly  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor,  was  such  a  representative. 

§  2.  Strikes  vs.  Legislation. — If  the  power  to  legislate 
had  been  the  only  power  of  this  organization,  maybe  little 
legislation  would  have  resulted,  but  since  its  organization  in 
Philadelphia  in  1869  by  Uriah  Stevens,1  it  had  succeeded 
in  using  effectively  the  power  of  the  strike  and  the  boycott 
to  enforce  its  demands.  The  report  of  the  State  statis- 
tician 2  for  1886  gives  abundant  testimony  of  the  use  of  the 
strike  in  the  order  for  the  purpose  of  dictating  wages  and 
the  closed  shop.  The  Knights  being  in  most  cases  not  a 
trade  organization  but  an  assembly  of  workingmen  of  dif- 
ferent trades,  its  power  of  boycott  was  immensely  increased, 
so  that  in  some  cases  they  were  able  to  demand  that  the  rate 
of  wages  be  submitted  to  the  "  arbitration  and  approval  of 
the  district  committees,"  which  on  account  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  order,  if  nothing  else,  was  a  very  precarious 
board  of  arbitration.  Naturally  many  strikes  occurred  be- 
cause of  the  refusal  of  the  manufacturers  to  submit  to  this 
dictation,  and  probably  the  little  that  was  received  in  in- 
creased wages  did  not  equal  the  $250,000  estimated  by  the 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics.  1887,  p.  156. 

2  Statistics  of  Maine,  vol.  iv,  1886,  pp.  95-105. 


55]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        55 

state  statistician  as  lost  in  wages  by  the  laboring  people  on 
account  of  strikes. 

Such  conditions  could  not  help  but  bring  about  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  both  employers  and  employees  that  some  less 
warlike  measures  be  taken  to  correct  the  evils.  It  was  the 
demand  of  all  parties  that  a  definite  bureau  of  labor  statistics 
be  organized  similar  to  the  one  which  had  done  so  much 
work  toward  eradicating  labor  disputes  in  Massachusetts. 
The  bill1  for  the  purpose  "was  presented  as  a  labor  meas- 
ure and  its  passage  was  urged  by  the  labor  organizations  of 
the  State,  whose  membership  at  that  time  numbered  about 
16,000,  most  of  whom  were  enrolled  in  the  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor.  Among  the  officers  of  each  local  as- 
sembly was  designated  a  statistician,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
collect  from  the  members  information  relating  to  the  in- 
dustrial conditions  surrounding  their  everyday  life.  By 
this  means  a  record  was  kept  of  actual  conditions  applying 
to  labor,  wages,  time  work,  causes  for  idleness,  cost  of 
living,  etc.  The  object  in  doing  this  was  to  have  at  hand 
reliable  information  that  could  be  used  at  any  time  as  a 
barrier  of  defence  when  requiring  of  employers  an  increase 
of  wages,  reduction  of  hours  of  labor  or  other  improve- 
ments in  working  conditions,  and  as  a  base  for  legislation 
when  it  shall  be  desired.  It  was  intended  that  the  State 
Bureau  should  work  along  these  same  lines,  using  the  local 
statisticians  as  sources  of  information  upon  all  subjects  ap- 
plying directly  to  labor  conditions."  The  bill  as  presented 
by  Mr.  Lyons  to  the  legislature  was  worked  out  by  him,  he 
tells  us,  to  meet  these  conditions,  and  it  is  an  interesting 
coincidence  that  it  became  his  duty  in  1907,  as  labor  com- 
missioner of  the  State,  to  develop  the  work  planned  by  this 
bill.     The  act  as  approved  was  as  follows : 

1  Com.  Lyon's  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics, 
1907,  P.  5- 


56  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [56 

Sec.  1.  There  is  hereby  established  a  separate  and  distinct 
department,  which  shall  be  called  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and 
Labor  Statistics. 

Sec.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  department  to  collect, 
assort,  systematize,  and  present  in  annual  reports  to  the  gov- 
ernor,  to  be  by  him  transmitted  biennially  to  the  legislature, 
statistical  details,  relating  to  all  departments  of  labor  in  the 
state,  especially  in  its  relations  to  the  commencial,  industrial, 
social)  educational  and  sanitary  conditions  of  the  laboring 
people;  and  to  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  productive 
industries  of  the  state,  and  also  to  inquire  into  the  immediate 
causes  of  strikes,  lock-outs  or  other  disturbances  of  the  rela- 
tions between  employers  and  employees. 

Sec.  3.  The  governor  shall,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  council,  appoint  immediately  after  this  act  goes  into  effect, 
and  thereafter  biennially,  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  February, 
some  suitable  person,  who  is  identified  with  the  industrial  and 
labor  interests,  and  who  shall  be  designated  commissioner  of 
industrial  and  labor  statistics,  with  an  office  in  such  place  as 
shall  be  designated  by  the  governor. 

Sec.  4.  The  commissioner  herein  named,  shall  receive  an 
annual  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  to  aid  in  carrying 
out  the  provisions  of  this  act,  said  commissioner  is  hereby  au- 
thorized to  employ  such  assistance  and  incur  such  expense, 
not  exceeding  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  as  shall  be 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Sec.  5.  The  commissioner  shall  have  power  to  take  and  pre- 
serve evidence,  examine  witnesses  under  oath,  and  administer 
the  same,  and  in  discharge  of  his  duty,  may  enter  any  public 
institution  of  the  state,  and  at  reasonable  hours  when  open  for 
business,  any  factory,  workshop,  mine  or  other  place  where 
labor  may  be  employed. 

Sec.  6.  All  state,  county,  city  and  town  officers,  are  hereby 
directed  to  furnish  to  said  commissioner  upon  his  request,  all 
statistical  information  in  reference  to  labor  and  labor  indus- 
tries, which  shall  be  in  their  possession  as  such  officers,  and 


cy]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        cy 

said  commissioner  shall  cause  to  be  published  and  circulated 
in  this  state  six  thousand  copies  annually  of  the  results  of  its 
labors,  as  to  the  objects  for  which  commission  is  created. 

The  establishment  of  a  bureau  of  labor  statistics  had  gone 
beyond  the  period  of  experiment.  Bureaus  l  had  been  es- 
tablished in  Massachusetts  in  1869,  Pennsylvania  1872, 
Missouri  1876,  Ohio  1877,  New  Jersey  1878,  Illinois  1879, 
Indiana  1881,  New  York  1883,  California  1883,  Michigan 
1883,  Wisconsin  1883,  Iowa  1884,  Maryland  1884,  Kansas 
1885,  Connecticut  1885,  and  coincident  with  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Maine  Bureau  there  were  established  Bureaus 
in  North  Carolina,  Minnesota,  Colorado  and  Rhode  Island. 
Two  years  before  the  National  Bureau  had  been  started  in 
Washington.  The  large  number  of  Bureaus  existing  at 
this  time  made  it  especially  desirable  that  Maine  should 
have  means  of  actually  gaining  knowledge  of  wages  and 
other  labor  conditions  existing  in  the  State  to  compare  with 
those  of  other  States. 

§  3.  Legislation  about  Wages. — The  establishment  of  a 
statistical  bureau  for  investigation  of  the  problem  of  wages 
did  not  necessarily  exhaust  all  the  possible  legislation  on  the 
subject.  While  the  regulation  of  the  amount  of  wages  by 
legislation  is  unknown  in  this  country,  still  it  is  possible  to 
legislate  as  to  the  time  of  payment,  the  person  to  whom  it 
shall  be  paid,  the  conditions  under  which  part  shall  be  for- 
feited for  failure  to  live  up  to  the  contract,  etc.  The  old 
English  law  went  so  far  as  to  regulate  the  wage  in  certain 
trades,  but  in  this  country  such  legislation  has  been  looked 
upon  as  dangerous  to  the  spirit  of  democracy.  By  the  year 
1887  Maine  had  on  her  statute  books  a  number  of  laws  deal- 
ing with  wages.  They  were  for  the  most  part  feeble  at- 
tempts to  bring  the  common-law  usage  into  line  with  the 
1  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1887,  p.  5. 


58  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [5g 

newer  industrial  development,  and  a  resume  is  at  this  time 
necessary  to  the  understanding  of  the  two  bills  that  were 
introduced  into  the  legislature  of  1887. 

§  4.  Wages  of  Married  Women. — Wages  of  married 
women  were  first  a  matter  of  State  legislation,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  1821,  when  a  law  in  regard  to  foreign  attachments 
was  passed.  (See  page  124).  There  next  developed  the 
act  which  finally  secured  to  "married  women  their  right 
to  property."  The  laws  of  1821,  Chapter  57,  Section  9, 
allowed  women  who  were  abandoned  by  their  husbands  to 
make  contracts.  The  amendment  of  1841  broadened  this 
regulation  to  include  wives  of  criminals,  while  the  act  of 
1844,  chapter  117,  was  entitled,  "An  act  to  secure  to  married 
women  their  rights  in  property."  In  the  Statutes  of  1847, 
Chapter  27,  and  in  1848,  Chapter  73;  1852,  Chapter  227; 
1855,  Chapter  120;  1856,  Chapter  250,  the  rights  to  pos- 
sess and  manage  property  were  extended.  By  the  statute 
of  1857,  Chapter  59,  married  women  were  authorized  to 
receive  and  sue  for  wages  of  personal  labor  performed  for 
other  than  their  own  families.  The  statute  has  been 
amended  by  1862,  Chapter  148;  1863,  Chapter  214;  1876, 
Chapter  112;  1883,  Chapter  207;  and  1889,  Chapter  176, 
but  the  clause  regarding  wages  remained  as  it  was  in  the 
statutes  of  1857,  and  it  reads  as  follows:  "  She  may  receive 
the  wages  of  her  personal  labor,  not  performed  for  her  own 
family,  maintain  an  action  therefor  in  her  own  name  and 
hold  them  in  her  own  right  against  her  husband  or  any  other 
person."  l 

This  development  in  the  rights  of  women  to  declare  their 
equality  with  men  before  the  law  was  slow,  but  when  we 
realize  that  it  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor  to  secure  for  both  sexes  equal  pay  for  equal  work  and 
the  demand  for  woman  suffrage  was  not  unknown  to  the 

1  9T  Maine,  552. 


59]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        59 

legislature  of  1887,  we  may  see  how  far  beyond  these  laws 
the  discussion  had  gone. 

§  5.  Payment  of  Wages. — The  right  of  all  adults  to  re- 
ceive their  own  wages  was  established  when  the  laws  for 
married  women  were  passed.  But  there  still  remained  the 
question  of  the  time  of  payment,  and  the  use  of  substitutes 
for  cash.  "A  regular  pay-day  is  quite  a  modern  institu- 
tion," a  writer  in  1890  tells  us,1  "  and  the  experience  of  the 
past  has  led  men  to  be  cautious  of  letting  it  go  by  without 
receiving  their  money.  Formerly,  stores  were  run  by  many 
of  the  different  firms  in  connection  with  their  works,  and 
pay-days  were  so  far  between  that  the  help  was  obliged  to 
trade  at  these  stores  and  pay  whatever  was  asked,  the  prices 
being  in  most  cases  higher  than  goods  could  be  purchased 
for,  had  they  their  money  to  buy  with.  Finally  the  stores 
were  closed  up,  and  then  the  help  had  no  protection  at  all, 
and  many  of  the  stone  workers  there  today  can  show  due 
b.'lls  for  work  done  years  ago  that  have  never  been  paid." 

Freund  points  out,  in  his  "  Police  Power" 2  "  Two 
classes  of  provisions  relating  to  the  payment  of  wages  may 
be  distinguished,  the  one  requiring  payment  at  stated  times 
or  intervals,  weekly,  monthly,  or  semi-monthly,  the  other 
requiring  payment  of  wages  in  cash."  The  conditions  de- 
scribed were  bettered  by  legislation,  falling  naturally  under 
the  head  of  the  "  fortnightly  payment  act,"  dealing  with  the 
time  features,  and  the  "  truck  "  or  "  store  "  acts  and  "  me- 
chanics' liens,"  dealing  with  the  failure  to  pay  in  cash. 

§  6.  Fortnightly  Payment. — The  same  legislature,  1887, 
which  established  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor 
Statistics  passed  a  strong  act 3  regulating  the  time  of  pay- 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1890,  p.  146. 

2  Ernest  Freund,  Police  Power,  p.  319. 
8  Laws  of  1887,  chap,  cxxxiv,  pp.  1-5. 


60  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [60 

ment  of  wages  and  prescribing  that  they  should  be  paid 
every  two  weeks. 

Sec.  57.  Every  manufacturing,  mining,  quarrying,  stone- 
cutting,  mercantile,  street  railroad,  telegraph,  telephone  and 
municipal  corporation,  and  every  incorporated  express  and 
water  company,  and  any  person  or  firm  engaged  in  any  of  the 
above  specified  kinds  of  business,  having  in  their  employ  more 
than  ten  persons,  shall  pay  fortnightly  each  and  every  employee 
engaged  in  its  business,  except  municipal  officers  whose  ser- 
vices are  paid  for  by  the  day,  or  teachers  employed  by  muni- 
cipal corporations,  the  wages  earned  by  such  employee  to  within 
eight  days  of  the  date  of  said  payment,  provided,  however, 
that  if  at  any  time  of  payment,  any  employee  shall  be  absent 
from  his  regular  place  of  labor,  he  shall  be  entitled  to  said 
payment  at  any  time  thereafter  on  demand. 

Sec.  58.  Any  corporation  violating  any  provision  of  the 
preceding  section  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
ten,  nor  more  than  twenty-five  dollars  on  each  complaint  under 
which  it  is  convicted,  provided,  that  complaint  for  such  viola- 
tion is  made  within  thirty  days  from  the  date  thereof.  When 
a  corporation  against  which  a  complaint  is  so  made,  fails  to 
appear  after  being  duly  served  with  process,  its  default  shall 
be  recorded,  the  allegations  in  the  complaint  taken  to  be  true, 
and  judgment  rendered  accordingly.  When  judgment  is  ren- 
dered upon  any  such  complaint  against  a  corporation,  the  court 
may  issue  a  warrant  of  distress  to  compel  the  payment  of  the 
penalty  prescribed  by  law,  together  with  costs  and  interest. 

This  act  does  not  provide  for  any  means  of  enforcement, 
probably  with  an  idea  that  the  Knights  of  Labor  would 
itself  act  as  the  inspecting  and  enforcing  authority.  It  was 
not  until  1893  that  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  factory  in- 
spector to  enforce  this  regulation. 

The  constitutionality  of  this  act  seems  to  have  been  taken 
for  granted  on  account  of  the  similarity  to  that  of  the 


6i]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        6 1 

Massachusetts  weekly  payment  law  applying  to  all  manu- 
factories which  was  held  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts to  be  constitutional  in  163  Mass.,  589.  In  Maine 
no  attempt  has  been  made  by  the  factory  department  to 
bring  any  more  than  moral  suasion  to  bear  upon  the 
violators  of  the  act  as  we  shall  see  later  on.  The  enforce- 
ment of  the  regulation  might  mean  the  failure  of  the  com- 
pany and  thus  result  in  depriving  the  laborer  of  his  occu- 
pation, which  was  not  the  intent  of  the  law.  In  some  states 
such  legislation  has  been  declared  unconstitutional,  but  as 
yet  no  case  has  been  taken  to  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  Mr.  Freund  believes  it  would  be  declared  constitu- 
tional by  that  tribunal.  He  says,1  "  There  is  no  reason  to 
assume  that  the  decision  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court 
in  the  matter  of  the  truck  legislation  will  not  be  followed  if 
a  weekly  payment  act  should  come  before  that  tribunal, 
so  that  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  will  present  no  obstacle 
to  legislation  of  this  character." 

The  payment  each  fortnight  is  understood  to  be  the  full 
amount  of  wages  due  under  the  contract,  but  often  it 
happens  that  the  employee  leaves  before  the  end  of  the  fort- 
night. In  so  doing,  the  question  is  raised  as  to  whether 
or  not  wages  shall  be  paid  and  what  amount.  The  general 
factory  act  of  1887  contained  a  clause  to  provide  for  this 
contingency.     It  reads  as  follows  :2 

It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person,  firm  or  corporation  engaged 
in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  business,  to  contract  with 
adult  or  minor  employees  to  give  one  week's  notice  of  intention 
on  such  employee's  part,  to  quit  such  employment,  under  a 
penalty  of  forfeiture  of  one  week's  wages.  In  such  case  the 
employer  shall  be  required  to  give  a  like  notice  of  intention  to 

1  Freund,  Police  Power,  p.  320. 

2  Laws  of  1887,  chap,  cxxxix,  sec.  4. 


62  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [fe 

discharge  the  employee ;  and  on  failure  shall  pay  to  such  em- 
ployee a  sum  equal  to  one  week's  wages.  No  such  forfeiture 
shall  be  enforced  when  the  leaving  or  discharge  of  the  em- 
ployee is  for  a  reasonable  cause,  provided,  however,  the  en- 
forcement of  the  penalty  aforesaid  shall  not  prevent  either 
party  from  recovering  damages  for  a  breach  of  the  contract 
of  hire. 

This  regulation  tested  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Maine  in  Cote  v.  Bates  Manufacturing  Company,  Dec.  ioth, 
l897>  (39  Atl.  Rep.  280)  in  which  the  statute  was  upheld 
as  to  a  case  where  notice  was  given.  In  the  case  of  failure 
of  either  party  to  give  notice,  there  should  be  no  forfeiture 
and  the  employee  was  "  entitled  to  receive  amount  due  him 
when  he  quit  work,  for  labor  before  then  performed."  The 
regulation  does  not  hold  against  infants  as  they  are  "  not 
liable  for  breach  of  contract  for  service,"  as  decided  in 
Derocher  v.  Continental  Mills,  (58  Me.  217). 

If  men  are  paid  by  the  fortnight,  the  query  naturally 
arises,  what  is  a  fortnight's  work?  First,  it  does  not  in- 
clude work  on  Sunday.  By  the  law  of  1821  (see  page  21) 
work  on  the  Lord's  Day  is  prohibited.  In  1865  the  law 
was  amended  to  read :  "  Whoever,  on  the  Lord's  Day  keeps 
open  his  shop,  workhouse,  warehouse,  or  place  of  business, 
travels  or  does  any  work,  labor,  or  business  on  that  day, 
except  works  of  necessity  or  charity,  uses  any  sport,  game 
or  recreation,  or  is  present  at  any  dancing,  public  diversity, 
show  or  entertainment,  encouraging  the  same,  shall  be 
punished  by  fine  not  exceeding  ten  dollars."  This  has  been 
upheld  by  numerous  decisions.  These  decisions  hold  that 
the  only  labor  which  is  legal  is  "  walking  for  exercise  in  the 
open  air  with  no  purpose  of  pleasure."  If  it  was  done  for 
either  pleasure  or  pay  it  would  be  in  violation  of  the  Sunday 
law,  O'Connell  v.  City  of  Lewistown,  (65  Me.  34). 


63]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        63 

Overtime  is  not  included  in  the  fortnightly  pay.  The 
definition  of  overtime  has  been  the  cause  for  certain  litiga- 
tion in  the  courts  in  regard  to  the  ten-hour  legal  day.  In 
1848  ten  hours  was  made  a  legal  day  for  all  but  monthly 
hirings  and  agricultural  employments.  Any  time  over  the 
ten  hours  per  day  was  to  be  on  special  contract  and  paid 
accordingly.  The  question  raised  is  one  of  what  shall  be 
considered  as  a  special  contract.  Work  done  after  the 
completion  of  ten  hours'  labor  by  an  employee  at  the  request 
of  the  employer  implies  a  promise  of  payment,  (Bachelder 
v.  Beckford,  62  Me.  526,  Supreme  Court  of  Maine,  1872) 
but  where  a  laborer  hires  for  a  twelve-hour  shift  knowing  it 
to  be  of  twelve  hours'  duration  and  accepts  his  payment 
without  claiming  more,  it  is  inferred  that  he  agrees  to  work 
for  the  two  hours  extra  at  the  stated  wages.  (Fitzgerald 
v.  International  Paper  Co.,  Feb.  28,  1902,  Sup.  Jud.  Court 
of  Maine,  52  Atl.  Rep.  655). 

§  7.  Truck  Acts. — Though  laws  were  passed  as  we  have 
seen  to  regulate  the  time  of  payment,  it  was  often  uncertain 
as  to  how  and  to  whom  they  were  to  be  paid.  The  poor 
laborer  was  often  embarrassed  by  many  debts  and  would 
be  forced  to  assign  all  his  goods  to  a  trustee.  Some- 
times he  would  assign  his  wages  in  advance  to  certain 
parties  to  avoid  their  recovery  by  still  other  parties.  Natur- 
ally many  abuses  arose  and  in  some  cases  where  the  assign- 
ment of  wages  was  made  to  the  employer  as  trustee  and  the 
wages  were  paid  through  a  company  supply  store,  a  condi- 
tion of  peonage  existed.  In  his  message  of  1887,  Governor 
Bodwell  called  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  con- 
ditions existing.1 

I  also  recommend  that  trustee  process  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  the  wages  of  the  laboring  man  be  abolished.    The  undoubted 

1  Annual  Message  of  Governor,  Public  Documents,  1887,  p.  17. 


64  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [64 

result  of  these  steps  will  be  to  curtail  the  credit  of  laboring 
men  and  to  keep  them  from  incurring  obligations  which  readily 
absorb  their  earnings.  It  will  force  the  relations  between  em- 
ployer and  the  employed  to  a  cash  basis,  and  will  largely  benefit 
the  laboring  man  by  adding  perceptibly  to  the  value  of  his 
daily  wages.  It  will,  I  think,  be  found  that  the  saving  result- 
ing to  the  labor  of  the  State  for  the  cash  basis  will  show  in  an 
addition  to  the  aggregate  deposits  in  the  savings  banks  of  the 
State.  Imprisonment  for  debt  and  trustee  process  both  being 
removed,  the  laborer  is  made  a  free  man,  with  no  unjust  penal- 
ties menacing  him  and  no  one  tempting  him  to  incur  needless 
debt. 

The  assignment  of  wages  had  been  restricted  by  the  act 
of  1876,  which  required  the  recording  of  such  assignments. 
It  reads : 1 

Sec.  1.  No  assignment  of  wages  shall  be  valid  against  any 
other  person  than  the  party  thereto  unless  such  assignment  is 
recorded  by  the  clerk  of  the  city,  town  or  plantation,  organized 
for  any  purpose,  in  which  the  assignor  is  commorant  while 
earning  such  wages. 

Sec.  2.  The  fee  to  be  paid  the  clerk  for  any  such  record  is 
twenty-five  cents. 

This  provision  applied  only  to  cases  where  the  whole  sum 
to  be  received  from  the  contract  was  not  assigned  (Augur 
v.  Couture,  68  Me.  428).  Also  the  assignment  of  transfer 
checks  or  coupons  standing  as  wages  need  not  be  recorded, 
(Stenson  v.  Caswell,  71  Me.  510).  The  law  was  amended 
in  1897  making  it  more  definite  as  to  commorant,  making 
the  reading : 2 

No  assignment  of  wages  is  valid  against  any  other  person 
1  Laws  of  1876,  chap,  xciii. 
'-'  Laws  of  1897.  chap.  ccci. 


65]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        65 

than  the  parties  thereto  unless  such  assignment  is  recorded  by 
the  clerk  of  the  town  in  which  the  assignor  is  commorant  while 
earning  such  wages;  and  if  said  assignor  is  commorant  in  an 
unorganized  place  while  earning  such  wages,  said  assignment 
shall  not  be  valid  against  any  other  person  than  the  parties 
thereto  unless  said  assignment  is  recorded  by  the  clerk  of  the 
oldest  adjoining  town,  provided  that  there  be  an  incorporated 
town  adjoining  such  unincorporated  place,  and  if  there  be  no 
such  adjoining  town  such  assignment  shall  be  recorded  in  the 
office  of  the  register  of  deeds  for  the  registry  district  in  which 
said  unincorporated  place  is  located.  No  such  assignment  of 
wages  shall  be  valid  against  the  employer  unless  he  has  actual 
notice  thereof. 

This  act  was  still  further  amended  in  certain  details  by 
the  act  of  1907.1 

The  recording  of  assignment  was  a  step  in  the  right  di- 
rection but  it  was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  act  of  1877  2 
amending  the  act  of  1854 3  which  provided  that  no  employer 
could  be  appointed  a  trustee  for  more  than  twenty  dollars. 
It  reads : 

No  person  shall  be  adjudged  trustee  by  reason  of  any  amount 
due  from  him  to  the  principal  defendant,  as  wages  for  his  per- 
sonal labor,  or  that  of  his  wife  or  minor  children,  for  a  time 
not  exceeding  one  month  next  preceding  the  service  of  the 
process,  and  not  exceeding  twenty  dollars  of  the  amount  due  to 
him  as  wages  for  his  personal  labor ;  and  this  is  not  exempt  in 
any  suit  for  taxes  or  for  necessaries  furnished  him  or  his 
family ;  moreover,  wages  of  minor  children  and  of  women,  are 
not,  in  any  case,  subject  to  trustee  process  on  account  of  any 
debt  of  parent  or  husband. 

1  Laws  of  1907,  chap,  cccvi. 

2  Laws  of  1877,  chap.  ccx. 

3  Laws  of  1854.  chap,  lxxxv. 


66  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [66 

It  will  easily  be  seen  that  these  provisions  permit  assign- 
ment of  wages  "  to  be  earned  under  existing  contracts," 
(Wade  v.  Bessing,  76  Me.  413;  Haynes  v.  Thompson,  80 
Me.  125)  but  when  the  assignment  is  once  made  for  the 
wages  due  the  laborer  at  the  end  of  the  month  and  the 
employer  is  duly  notified  to  hold  said  wages,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  the  creditor  to  further  proceed  against  the  next 
month's  wages.  (Collins  v.  Chase,  71  Me.  435).  Further 
protection  to  wages  was  given  by  the  act  of  1897  which 
states  those  things  which  cannot  be  seized  when  an  attach- 
ment is  made.     It  reads : x 

Nor  shall  the  amount  due  him  as  wages  for  his  personal 
labor  for  a  time  not  exceeding  one  month  next  preceeding  the 
service  of  the  process,  and  not  exceeding  twenty  dollars,  be 
liable  to  attachment  on  any  trustee  process  in  a  suit  brought 
against  him  upon  any  debt  contracted  prior  to  said  time. 

It  was  not  until  Maine  abolished  imprisonment  for  debt  in 
1889  that  labor  was  free  from  the  oppression  of  the  creditor 
and  the  evils  of  the  trade  store  were  done  away  with  by  the 
combined  effect  of  these  laws  and  the  fortnightly  payment 
act.  The  finding 2  of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  that  truck 
acts  applying  to  all  employees  are  constitutional  places  such 
legislation  on  a  sound  basis. 

§  8.  Mechanics  Lien. — It  often  happens  that  the  employer 
instead  of  the  employee  is  forced  to  assign  or  dies  and  his 
estate  is  in  the  hands  of  executors.  In  such  a  case  there 
are  almost  always  certain  employees  whose  wages  are  not 
paid.  Since  the  first  regulation  of  "  foreign  attachment  " 
in  1 82 1  these  wages  have  been  a  prior  claim.     In  1878  s 

1  Revised  Statutes,  1903,  chap,  lxxii,  sec.  68. 

2  U.  S.  Knoxville  Iron  Co.  vs.  Harbiser,  183  U.  S.  13. 

3  Lazvs  of  1878,  chap,  lxxiv,  sec.  36. 


67]      ATTEMPTS  TOWARD  REGULATION  OF  WAGES        67 

and  again  in  1879  *  the  insolvent  laws  were  revised  to  read 
that  "  in  making  a  dividend  under  the  preceeding  section 
(Sec.  34,  insolvent  laws)  the  following  claims  shall  first 
be  paid  in  full:  1.***  2.***  3.  Wages  due  any  operative, 
clerk  or  house  servant,  not  exceeding  $50,  for  labor  per- 
formed within  six  months  preceeding  the  filing  of  the 
petition." 

This  "  wages  preferred  "  provision  remained  unchanged 
during  the  revision  of  the  insolvency  laws  in  1883  2  and 
1897.3  Complications  have  arisen  under  the  provisions 
and  the  courts  have  laid  down  certain  rulings.  After  men 
work  on  a  building  constructed  with  borrowed  money,  in 
case  of  failure  of  the  contractor  to  pay,  the  building  can 
be  held  by  the  workmen  against  the  owner.  (Johnson  v. 
Pike,  35  Me.  291).  Stipulations  against  such  a  lien  in  the 
contract  between  the  contractor  and  owner  are  no  bar  to  the 
collection  of  this  by  the  laborer,  (Norton  v.  Clark,  85  Me. 
357)  but  such  a  lien  must  be  filed  within  thirty  days  of  the 
attachment  (Cole  v.  Clark,  85  Me.  336)  which  must  be 
enforced  within  ninety  days.  (Johnson  v.  Pike,  35  Me. 
291). 

Such  provisions  protected  the  laborer  from  loss  as  well  as 
fraud  and  deception.  The  development  of  the  mechanics 
lien  extended  all  employees  control  over  the  product,  while 
the  limiting  of  the  truck  stores  decreased  the  control  of  the 
employee  by  the  employer,  the  fortnightly  payment  tended 
to  decrease  the  need  for  either  the  lien  or  the  truck  act.  So 
in  its  passage  the  legislature  of  1887  made  a  decided  step 
forward  in  the  legislation  designed  to  meet  all  problems 
arising  from  the  payment  of  wages. 

1  Laws  of  1879,  chap,  cliv,  sec.  15. 

2  Laws  of  1883,  chap,  cccxiv,  sec.  1. 

3  Lazvs  of  1897,  chap,  cccxxv,  p.  6. 


CHAPTER  V 
General  Factory  Acts,  1887 

§  1.  The  Progress  of  The  Ten  Hour  Movement  During 
1886. — In  the  last  two  chapters  we  have  seen  something  of 
the  labor  movement,  and  we  have  seen  certain  results  it 
accomplished  in  regard  to  securing  compulsory  education 
and  the  adjustment  of  wages,  but  it  was  in  regard  to  the 
hours  of  labor  that  it  accomplished  most. 

Legislation  must  have  public  opinion  to  support  it.  All 
legislation  should  be  preceded  by  a  period  of  education  dur- 
ing which  the  people  of  a  state  are  brought  to  realize  the 
needs  of  such  legislation.  The  year  1886  was  such  a 
time  in  the  struggle  for  shorter  hours  of  labor.  The  Secre- 
tary of  State,  Oramandal  Smith,  thus  describes  it : l 

The  ten-hour  movement  has  made  considerable  progress 
throughout  the  State  during  the  year.  No  cotton  manufac- 
tories have  yet  made  any  change  in  the  length  of  a  day's  work, 
but  a  large  number  of  woolen  manufacturers  have  done  so, 
and  from  the  present  appearances  there  will  hardly  be  a 
woolen  mill  in  the  State  a  year  from  now  that  will  require 
more  than  ten  hours  for  a  day's  work.  This  reduction  of  the 
hours  of  labor  has  not  been  followed  by  any  reduction  in  the 
wages  paid  employees,  so  that  the  advantage  gained  by  the 
movement  has  been  in  favor  of  the  laboring  class.  In  some 
cases,  possibly,  where  employees  work  by  the  piece,  a  little  less 
money  may  be  earned  than  previously,  as  it  is  quite  imprac- 
ticable to  speed  up  the  machinery  of  the  woolen  mills  so  as  to 
accomplish  any  more  than  the  same  proportion  of  work  to  the 

1  Statistics  of  the  Industries  of  Maine,  vol.  iv,  1886,  pp.  7-8. 
68  [68 


69]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  69 

length  of  a  day's  labor  that  has  heretofore  prevailed.  The  labor- 
ing people  are,  however,  gainers  in  the  extra  opportunity  that 
has  thus  been  given  them  fcr  rest  and  personal  improvement. 
Maine,  with  its  few  large  cities  and  the  scattered  locations  of 
its  manufacturing  business,  is  better  adapted  for  the  adoption 
of  a  short  day's  work  without  injury  to  the  laboring  people 
than  is  the  case  in  some  States.  The  point  to  be  gained,  in 
reducing  a  day's  labor  from  eleven  to  ten  or  eight  hours,  is 
two-fold :  first,  the  limitation  of  production  to  the  demands  of 
the  markets,  thereby  ensuring  more  continuous  work  than 
sometimes  prevails;  and  second,  securing  to  labor  a  better 
opportunity  for  rest  that  there  may  be  more  progress  made 
in  personal  improvement.  The  tendency  of  the  past  quarter 
of  a  century  has  been  toward  a  reduction  in  the  length  of  a 
day's  work,  and  the  present  condition  of  things  is  the  result 
of  little,  if  any,  legislation.  It  has  thus  far  seemed  to  be  a 
question  that  has  settled  itself,  and  an  amicable  adjustment  of 
such  matters  is  better  for  the  State  than  if  accomplished  by 
compulsory  legislation. 

That  manufacturers  are  becoming  more  awake  to  the  needs 
of  their  employees  is  evidenced  by  the  action  of  the  York 
Manufacturing  Company  of  Saco  and  the  Sanford  Mills  of 
Sanford  in  establishing  and  supporting  private  schools  for  the 
education  of  the  children  employed  in  their  mills.  The  laws 
of  the  State  provide  that  children  shall  not  be  employed  in 
manufacturing  establishments  without  they  have  attended 
school  a  certain  number  of  weeks  during  the  year.  The  law  is 
difficult  of  enforcement  and  too  often  manufacturers  are  inno- 
cent violators  of  its  provisions.  The  method  adopted  by  these 
two  corporations  will  enable  them  to  retain  their  regular  em- 
ployees, and  yet  compel  them  to  observe  the  law  to  their  own 
personal  advantage  and  the  general  good  of  the  State. 

§  2.    The  Need  of  Legislation.  —  Oramandel  Smith  also 
ably  summarizes  the  conditions  which  made  further  legis- 
lation desirable : x 
1  Statistics  of  the  Industries  of  Maine,  vol.  iv,  1886,  pp.  120-121. 


yo  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [y0 

During  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  an  attempt  was 
made  to  secure  the  enactment  of  more  restrictive  legis- 
lation regarding  the  length  of  a  day's  work,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  women  and  minors.  Although  considerable 
time  was  spent  by  the  Judiciary  Committee  in  perfecting 
the  bill,  and  by  the  Legislature  in  a  discussion  of  the 
merits  of  the  same,  no  changes  were  made  in  the  present 
statute.  The  present  law  is  pretty  comprehensive,  and  if 
properly  enforced  will  be  found  more  restrictive  than  any  legis- 
lation now  existing  in  the  majority  of  the  States.  By  chapter 
82,  section  43,  page  700  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  ten  hours  of 
actual  labor  is  made  a  legal  day's  work,  except  in  monthly 
work,  or  when  a  longer  time  is  stipulated,  or  in  agricultural 
employment.  By  chapter  48,  sections  13,  14  and  15,  page  439, 
Revised  Statutes,  being  acts  of  1880,  chapter  221,  no  child 
can  be  employed  in  a  cotton  or  woolen  factory  without  attend- 
ing a  public  or  private  school  for  four  months  during  the 
year  preceding  employment,  if  under  12  years  of  age,  and  for 
three  months  if  between  12  and  15  years  of  age,  the  necessary 
evidence  of  such  schooling  being  a  teacher's  certificate  made 
under  oath  and  filed  with  the  employer.  Violation  on  part  of 
employer  subjects  him  to  a  fine  of  $100,  half  to  informer 
and  half  to  town  school  fund.  No  one  under  sixteen  years  of 
age  shall  be  employed  over  ten  hours  a  day.  Violation  sub- 
jects employer  to  a  fine  of  $100,  half  to  employee  and  half 
to  town. 

This  statute  allows  corporations  to  contract  with  their  em- 
ployees for  any  length  of  a  day's  work  desired,  and  it  is  in 
this  way  that  various  establishments  are  now  operated  more 
than  ten  hours  per  day.  By  such  arrangements  the  present 
statute  loses  its  force,  because  corporations  or  other  employers 
may  refuse  to  employ  any  person  refusing  to  labor  as  many 
hours  per  day  as  may  be  desired,  and  by  such  discrimination 
the  laboring  people  may  fail  to  obtain  the  benefit  that  the  en- 
actment of  the  law  was  intended  to  convey.  In  Massachusetts 
the  law  is  more  restrictive  than  in  almost  any  other   State, 


7I]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  yi 

and  the  legislation  sought  in  this  State  in  1885  was,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  the  enactment  of  the  Massachusetts  statute  that 
the  laboring  people  of  Maine  might  have  the  same  advantages 
as  their  Massachusetts  brethren.  It  is  urged  by  manufacturers 
that  to  forbid  them  from  contracting  with  their  employees  for 
extra  hours'  work  is  to  discriminate  against  the  industries  of 
the  State,  and  will  prevent  many  of  them  from  taking  con- 
tracts that  might  otherwise  be  secured.  Very  few  mills  can  be 
speeded  higher  than  at  present,  and,  therefore,  not  so  much 
work  can  be  performed,  however  willing  employees  may  be  to 
accomplish  as  much  in  ten  hours  as  they  now  do  in  a  day  of 
eleven  hours.  The  enactment  of  a  law  that  will  prevent  the 
operation  of  manufactories  more  than  ten  hours  per  day  will 
thus  prevent  the  laboring  people  from  earning  as  much  where 
they  work  by  the  piece  as  they  do  now.  As  an  offset  to  this 
loss,  those  favoring  the  law  claim  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of 
humanity  because  it  will  prevent  the  compulsion  of  laboring 
people  to  work  more  than  what  constitutes  a  legal  day's  work, 
and  because  it  will  enable  the  laboring  people  to  devote  more 
time  to  their  own  improvement. 

But  the  labor  movement  did  not  leave  it  to  statisticians 
to  alone  champion  the  cause.  It  entered  into  the  field  of 
politics,  and  the  platforms  of  both  political  parties  told  how 
much  power  was  brought  to  bear.  The  platform x  adopted 
at  the  Democratic  State  Convention  at  Bangor,  June  2d, 
after  indorsing  President  Cleveland's  administration,  goes  on 
to  say,  "Resolved,  that  the  Democratic  party,  as  in  the  past, 
so  in  the  present,  is  the  friend  of  labor  and  the  laboring 
man,  and  sympathizes  with  labor  in  the  impending  struggle 
for  its  rights  against  aggressive  capital  and  associated 
wealth;  that  it  is  in  favor  of  all  legislation  which  will  tend 
to  an  equitable  distribution  of  property,  to  the  prevention 
of  monopoly  and  to  strict  enforcement  of  individual  right 

1  Eastern  Argus  (June  8,  1886). 


J2  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [y2 

against  corporate  abuses,  and  especially  favor  the  enactment 
by  which  labor  associations  may  be  organized  for  arbitra- 
tion of  all  differences  between  employed  and  employer;  for 
establishment  of  co-operative  institutions;  for  introduction 
of  a  co-operative  industrial  system;  for  the  establishing 
of  a  national  bureau  of  labor,  for  reserving  what  is  left  of 
the  public  domain  for  actual  settlers,  that  the  land  of  the 
people  may  be  held  by  the  many  and  not  the  few,  for  the 
abolition  of  that  relic  of  barbarism,  imprisonment  for  debt, 
for  the  repeal  of  the  odious  trustee  process  by  which  a  heart- 
less creditor  may  snatch  the  wages  of  a  laborer  from  the 
hands  of  his  employer  before  it  can  be  converted  into  bread 
for  his  wife  and  children.  Resolved,  that  we  oppose  the 
system  of  long  hours  of  labor  in  many  factories  of  this 
State  and  favor  the  enactment  of  a  uniform  ten-hour  law." 
The  Republican  Convention  of  June  io,1  at  Lewiston, 
among  the  planks  of  the  platform,  adopted  the  following  : 

Resolved,  that  labor  and  capital  must  be  at  harmony  to  in- 
sure the  prosperity  of  either.  .  .  .  Resolved,  that  in  the  judg- 
ment of  this  Convention,  no  manufacturing  establishment  in 
Maine  should  extend  the  length  of  a  day's  labor  beyond  ten 
hours.  Resolved,  that  the  Convention  recommend  that  the 
next  Legislature  of  this  State  shall  enact  a  law  prescribing  fif- 
teen years  as  the  earliest  age  at  which  children  may  be  regu- 
larly employed  in  factories  or  some  kindred  law  calculated  to 
guard  and  protect  youth  of  tender  years.  Earlier  employment 
of  that  kind  interferes  with  the  growth  and  health  and  de- 
prives the  children  of  proper  opportunity  of  acquiring  an  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools.  Resolved,  that  we  recommend  to 
the  next  Legislature  a  careful  revision  of  the  labor  systems 
in  the  prisons,  to  the  end  that  the  labor  of  convicts  be  so  ad- 
justed as  not  to  come  in  competition  with  the  honest  calling 
of  any  citizen  of  the  State. 

1  Portland  Daily  Press  (June  io,  1886). 


73]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  73 

The  Eastern  Argus,1  the  Democratic  paper,  the  next 
morning  speaks  of  the  labor  resolutions  and  says  that  dele- 
gate "  Peakes  of  Dover  objects  to  the  '  ten-hour  foolish- 
ness '  but  was  told  that  it  was  a  compromise  '  and  did  not 
commit  anybody  to  anything.' '  Whether  this  jibe  was 
true  or  false  it  is  of  note  that  at  that  convention  Mr.  Bod- 
well  was  nominated  for  Governor  by  S.  W.  Matthews,  who 
was  later  appointed  Commissioner  of  Industrial  and  Labor 
Statistics  after  Mr.  Bodwell  was  elected  governor. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  two  parties  were  trying  to  out- 
do each  other  to  secure  the  labor  vote,  and  that  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  Democratic  party  to  hold  the  Republican 
party  responsible  for  the  failure  of  earlier  legislation.  A 
despatch  from  Bangor,  published  on  June  2d,  some  days  be- 
fore the  convention,  says,  "  The  labor  movement  will  be 
heartily  endorsed  and  legislative  action  in  its  aid  invoked. 
The  Republican  party  will  be  arraigned  for  importing 
pauper  labor  from  Europe  to  supplant  laboring  men.  Mc- 
Gillicuddy's  labor  bill  will  be  reaffirmed  and  the  Republi- 
can legislature  of  1885  censured  for  its  rejection." 

The  election  of  Mr.  Bodwell  as  Governor  was  followed 
by  a  message  to  the  legislature  in  which  he  speaks  in  no  un- 
certain way  as  to  its  duties  toward  the  laboring  people. 
After  speaking  of  the  trustee  process  in  the  eloquent  para- 
graph quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  he  says : 2 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  abuses  occur  in  permitting 
children  of  too  tender  age  to  work  in  our  factories.  This 
should  be  prohibited  by  law.  I  recommend  that  children  shall 
not  be  admitted  to  work  in  factories  before  the  age  of  fifteen 
years.  This  will  give  time  for  strength  and  growth,  and  also 
for  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  a  good  education.      In   this 

1  Eastern  Argus,  June  12,  1886. 

2  Governor's  Annual  Message,  1887,  p.  17. 


74  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [74 

matter,  the  parents  who  seek  work  for  their  children  are  as 
often  to  blame  as  the  employers  in  factories,  and  the  penalty 
adopted  should  be  made  to  apply  to  whichever  is  the  offend- 
ing party.  A  special  penalty  should  be  attached  to  the  offence 
of  misrepresenting  the  age  of  the  child. 

I  recommend,  further,  that  labor  in  all  corporations  in  the 
State  be  absolutely  restricted  by  law  to  ten  hours  a  day,  and  that 
a  day's  labor  outside  of  corporations  shall  always  be  left,  as  now 
defined  by  statute,  at  ten  hours.  If  a  day's  labor  be  less  or  more 
than  that,  it  must  be  by  virtue  of  a  special  contract  between  the 
parties,  and  be  regulated  by  the  hour.  The  multiplication  of 
machinery  and  the  great  addition  to  the  power  of  manufactur- 
ing, ought  naturally  to  be  followed  by  some  amelioration  in 
the  hours  of  labor.  The  length  of  a  day's  work  might  be, 
even  now,  further  reduced,  if  the  wants  of  the  people  did  not 
multiply  in  equal  ratio  with  the  facilities  for  gratifying  them. 
If  men  with  the  earnings  of  to-day  should  live  after  the  man- 
ner of  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  a  large  surplus  would  result 
from  daily  wages ;  but  as  wants  multiply  additional  means  are 
required.  It  is,  however,  a  satisfaction  to  believe  that  the 
tendency  is  in  the  right  direction,  and  that  the  average  wages  of 
workingmen  throughout  the  United  States,  reckoned  in  coin 
and  measured  by  their  ability  to  purchase  the  necessaries  and 
luxuries  of  life,  are  larger  than  they  have  ever  before  been  in 
any  period  of  our  history,  while  at  the  same  time  the  average 
hours  of  labor  are  shorter. 

§  3.  The  Legislature  of  188/. — At  this  session  a  "  Com- 
mittee on  Labor  "  was  for  the  first  time  established  in  the 
legislature  of  Maine.  Charles  E.  Littlefield  was  then 
speaker  of  the  House  and  appointed  the  committee.  The 
first  bill 1  introduced  in  the  Senate  was  to  regulate  the  work 
of  children,  making  a  minimum  age  of  twelve  years  and 
providing  for  a  commissioner  and  deputies  to  enforce  the 

1  Senate  Bill  no.  i.     Senate  Journal,  1887. 


75]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  75 

act.  The  Lyons  Bureau  bill 1  was  also  introduced.  H.  M. 
Heath  on  January  24th  introduced  a  radical  child-labor  bill 2 
by  which  no  child  under  fifteen  years  of  age  could  be  em- 
ployed in  any  factory  or  mechanical  establishment  in  the 
State,  and  a  commissioner  of  labor  was  to  be  elected  by 
the  people  within  thirty  days  of  the  enactment  of  the  bill. 
On  February  17th  the  Committee  on  Labor,  of  which  W.  H. 
Looney,  of  Portland,  was  House  chairman,  reported  favor- 
ably on  a  substitute  bill  to>  regulate  the  hours  of  labor  of 
women  and  children  which  became  known  as  the  Looney 
Bill.  This  bill  provided  for  the  ten-hour  day  for  boys  un- 
der sixteen  and  girls  under  eighteen,  and  placed  the  mini- 
mum £ge  of  employment  at  twelve.  It  provided  for  a 
single  commissioner,  instead  of  two,  for  this  bureau  and  the 
bureau  of  statistics,  giving  him  supervision  over  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law.  This  provision  was  finally  amended  3 
so  as  to  appoint  a  deputy  commissioner  to  work  under  the 
commissioner  appointed  for  the  bureau  of  industrial  and 
labor  statistics.  A  further  radical  amendment 4  was  passed 
in  the  Senate,  but  lost  in  the  House.  This  amendment  pro- 
vided that  no  child  under  fifteen  years  of  age  could  be  em- 
ployed in  any  factory  or  mechanical  establishment  except 
when  the  public  day  schools  in  the  city,  town  or  school  dis- 
trict he  resides  in  were  not  in  session.  If  this  amendment 
could  have  been  passed,  it  would  have  given  a  law  equal  in 
its  strictness  in  regard  to  factory  children  with  the  com- 
pulsory education  law  of  1898.  The  amended  law  had  the 
active  support  of  those  who  feared  the  more  radical  meas- 
ures of  the  Heath  Bill,  and  it  is  said  that  it  was  voted  for 

1  House  Bill  no.  ix.    House  Journal,  1887. 

2  Senate  Bill  no.  xi.     Senate  Journal,  1887. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  296. 

4  Leg.  Documents,  1887,  Bill  no.  clx,  Amendment  K. 


76  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [76 

by  all  those  members  of  the  legislature  who  "  always  op- 
posed labor  legislation."  It  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  20  to 
8  on  March  15th.     The  bill  read  as  follows: x 

Sec.  1.  No  female  minor  under  eighteen  years  of  age,  no 
male  minor  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  no  woman  shall 
be  employed  in  laboring  in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical 
establishment  in  the  state,  more  than  ten  hours  in  any  one 
day,  except  when  it  is  necessary  to  make  repairs  to  prevent 
the  interruption  of  the  ordinary  running  of  the  machinery,  or 
when  a  different  apportionment  of  the  hours  of  labor  is  made 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  making  a  shorter  day's  work  for  one 
day  of  the  week;  and  in  no  case  shall  the  hours  of  labor  ex- 
ceed sixty  in  a  week;  and  no  male  person  sixteen  years  and 
over  shall  be  so  employed  as  above,  more  than  ten  hours  a  day 
during  minority,  unless  he  voluntarily  contracts  to  do  so  with 
the  consent  of  his  parents,  or  one  of  them,  if  any,  or  guardian, 
and  in  such  case  he  shall  receive  extra  compensation  for  his 
services ;  provided,  however,  any  female  of  eighteen  years  of 
age  or  over,  may  lawfully  contract  for  such  labor  for  any 
number  of  hours  in  excess  of  ten  hours  a  day,  not  exceed- 
ing six  hours  in  any  one  week  or  sixty  hours  in  any  one  year, 
receiving  additional  compensation  therefor;  but  during  her 
minority,  the  consent  of  her  parents,  or  one  of  them,  or  guar- 
dian, shall  first  be  obtained. 

Sec.  2.  Every  employer  shall  post  in  a  conspicuous  place 
in  every  room  where  such  persons  are  employed,  a  notice 
printed  in  plain,  large  type,  stating  the  number  of  hours' 
work  required  of  them  on  each  day  of  the  week,  the  exact 
time  for  commencing  work  in  the  morning,  stopping  at  noon 
for  dinner,  commencing  after  dinner  and  stopping  at  night; 
the  form  of  such  printed  notice  shall  be  furnished  by  the 
deputy  commissioner  of  labor  hereafter  named,  and  shall  be 
approved  by  the  attorney  general ;  and  the  employment  of  any 
such  person  for  a  longer  time  in  any  day  than  that  so  stated, 
shall  be  deemed  a  violation  of  section  one,  unless  it  appears 
1  Lazus  of  1887,  chap,  cxxxix. 


77]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  77 

that  such  employment  is  to  make  up  for  time  lost  on  some 
previous  day  of  the  same  week,  in  consequence  of  the  stop- 
ping of  machinery  upon  which  such  person  was  employed  or 
dependent  for  employment. 

Sec.  3.  Whoever,  either  for  himself,  or  as  superintendent, 
overseer  or  agent  for  another,  employs  or  has  in  his  employ- 
ment any  person  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  section  one, 
and  every  parent  or  guardian  who  permits  any  minor  to  be 
so  employed,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
twenty-five  dollars  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars  for  each  offense. 
A  certificate  of  the  age  of  a  minor  made  by  him  and  by  his 
parent  or  guardian  at  the  time  of  his  employment,  shall  be 
conclusive  evidence  of  his  age  in  behalf  of  the  hirer,  upon 
any  prosecution  for  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  section 
one.  Whoever  falsely  makes  and  utters  such  a  certificate  with 
an  intention  to  evade  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be  subject 
to  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars. 

Sec.  4.  It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person,  firm  or  corpora- 
tion engaged  in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  business,  to 
contract  with  adult  or  minor  employees  to  give  one  week's 
notice  of  intention  on  such  employee's  part,  to  quit  such  em- 
ployment under  a  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  one  week's  wages. 
In  such  case,  the  employer  shall  be  required  to  give  a  like 
notice  of  intention  to  discharge  the  employee;  and  on  failure, 
shall  pay  to  such  employee,  a  sum  equal  to  one  week's  wages. 
No  such  forfeiture  shall  be  enforced  when  the  leaving  or  dis- 
charge of  the  employee  is  for  a  reasonable  cause;  provided, 
however,  the  enforcement  of  the  penalty  aforesaid,  shall  not 
prevent  either  party  from  recovering  damages  for  a  breach  of 
the  contract  of  hire. 

Sec.  5.  No  child  under  twelve  years  of  age,  shall  be  em- 
ployed in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  in 
this  state.  Whoever,  either  for  himself,  or  as  superintendent, 
overseer  or  agent  of  another,  employs  or  has  in  his  employ- 
ment any  child  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  section, 
and  every  parent  or  guardian  who  permits  any  child  to  be  so 


UNIVERSITY, 


yS  FA  CTOR  Y  LEGISLA  TION  IN  MAINE  [  yg 

employed,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars  for  each  offense. 

Sec.  6.  No  child  under  fifteen  years  of  age  shall  be  em- 
ployed in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  in 
this  state,  except  during  vacations  of  the  public  schools  in  the 
city  or  town  in  which  he  resides,  unless  during  the  year  next 
preceding  the  time  of  such  employment,  he  has  for  at  least  six- 
teen weeks  attended  some  public  or  private  school,  eight  weeks 
of  which  shall  be  continuous;  nor  shall  such  employment  con- 
tinue unless  such  child  in  each  and  every  year,  attends  some 
public  or  private  school  for  at  least  sixteen  weeks,  and  no 
child  shall  be  so  employed  who  does  not  present  a  certificate 
made  under  or  by  the  direction  of  the  school  committee,  super- 
intendent of  the  public  schools,  or  the  teacher  of  a  private 
school,  that  such  child  has  so  attended  school.  And  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  such  committee,  superintendent  or  teacher,  to  fur- 
nish such  a  certificate  in  accordance  with  the  fact  upon  re- 
quest and  without  charge ;  provided,  that  this  section  shall  not 
take  effect  until  January  one,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight. 

Sec.  7.  Any  parent  or  guardian  who  procures  a  child  to  be 
employed  contrary  to  section  six,  and  any  corporation,  owner, 
superintendent  or  agent  of  the  owner,  of  such  establishment 
violating  the  provisions  of  said  section,  shall  forfeit  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  dollars,  one-half  to  the  use  of  the  county,  and 
one-half  to  the  use  of  the  city  or  town  where  the  offense  is 
committed.  Money  so  recovered  to  the  use  of  the  city  or 
town,  shall  be  added  to  its  school  money.  It  shall  be  the  duties 
of  the  school  committees  and  superintendent  of  public  schools, 
to  inquire  into  violations  of  said  section,  and  report  the  same 
to  the  county  attorney,  who  shall  prosecute  therefor. 

Sec.  8.  Every  owner,  superintendent  or  overseer  of  any 
such  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  shall  require 
and  keep  on  file,  a  certificate  of  the  age  and  place  of  birth  of 
every  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  employed  therein,  so 
long  as  such  child  is  so  employed,  which  certificate  shall  also 


79 ]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  79 

state  in  the  case  of  a  child  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  the 
amount  of  his  school  attendance  during  the  year  next  preced- 
ing such  employment.  Said  certificate  shall  be  signed  by  a 
member  of  the  school  committee  of  the  place  where  such  at- 
tendance has  been  had,  or  by  some  one  authorized  by  such 
committee,  and  the  form  of  said  certificate  shall  be  furnished 
by  the  state  superintendent  of  schools,  and  shall  be  approved 
by  the  attorney  general.  The  deputy  commissioner  of  labor 
hereinafter  named  or  either  of  his  assistants,  may  demand  the 
names  of  the  children  under  sixteen  years  employed  in  such 
establishment,  in  the  several  cities  and  towns  of  the  state,  and 
may  require  that  the  certificates  of  age  and  school  attendance 
prescribed  in  this  section,  shall  be  produced  for  his  inspection, 
and  a  failure  to  produce  the  same  shall  be  prima  facie  evi- 
dence that  the  employment  of  such  child  is  illegal. 

Sec.  9.  The  governor,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  council,  shall  appoint  a  deputy  commissioner  of  labor, 
at  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  who  shall  hold 
office  for  two  years,  or  until  his  successor  is  appointed,  unless 
sooner  removed.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  deputy  commis- 
sioner of  labor  to  inquire  into  any  violations  of  this  act,  and 
also  to  assist  in  the  collection  of  statistics  and  other  informa- 
tion which  may  be  required,  for  the  use  of  the  bureau  of  in- 
dustrial and  labor  statistics.  And  said  deputy  commissioner 
shall,  in  addition  to  his  salary  provided  by  law,  be  allowed 
his  reasonable  expenses.  Whenever  the  governor  of  this  state 
shall  be  satisfied  that  the  deputy  commissioner  of  labor  cannot 
perform  all  the  duties  of  his  said  office  required  by  this  section, 
in  person,  he  shall,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council, 
appoint  a  sufficient  number  of  assistant  deputies  to  assist  him 
in  so  doing.  Said  assistants  shall  hold  their  office  for  the  term 
of  two  years,  and  act  under  the  direction  of  said  deputy  com- 
missioner of  labor,  and  shall  receive  the  sum  of  two  dollars 
per  day  and  reasonable  expenses  while  actually  engaged  in 
duty.  Said  assistants  may,  at  any  time,  be  removed  for  cause 
by  the  governor.    All  bills  for  the  expenses  of  the  deputy  com- 


go  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [80 

missioner  of  labor  and  for  the  services  and  expenses  of  such 
assistant  deputies,  shall  be  audited  by  the  council.  For  the 
purpose  of  inquiring  into  any  violation  of  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  and  enforcing  the  penalties  thereof,  such  deputy  com- 
missioner and  assistants  may,  at  all  reasonable  times,  enter 
any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  and  make  in- 
vestigation concerning  such  violations.  Such  investigation  shall 
be  conducted  with  as  little  interruption  as  possible  to  the 
prosecution  of  the  business  of  such  establishment.  Whoever 
interferes  with  said  deputy  commissioner  or  his  assistants,  in 
the  performance  of  their  duties  as  prescribed  in  this  act,  shall 
be  fined  fifty  dollars. 

Sec.  10.  Nothing  in  this  act  shall  apply  to  any  manufac- 
turing establishment  or  business,  the  materials  and  product  of 
which  are  perishable,  and  require  immediate  labor  thereon,  to 
prevent  decay  thereof  or  damage  thereto. 

This  act  of  1887  was  a  comprehensive  act  and  provided 
for  inspection.  By  this  act  Maine  put  herself  on  record  as 
one  of  the  most  progressive  states  and  was  the  sixth  state 
to  pass  such  legislation.  She  was  preceded  by  Massa- 
chusetts in  1882,  Wisconsin  and  Ohio  in  1885,  and  New 
York  and  New  Jersey  in  1886.  The  practical  workings  of 
the  bill  we  will  leave  for  discussion  in  the  following  chapter. 

§  4.  Safety  Appliances  on  Boilers. — The  year  1887  added 
one  other  act  which  had  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  safety 
of  the  factories.  It  dealt  with  the  question  of  boilers.  As 
early  as  1850  an  act  had  been  passed  to  prevent  the  "  ex- 
plosion of  steam  boilers."  This  act  dealt  with  the  regula- 
tion of  safety  plugs.  In  1858  this  act  was  amended  with 
more  definite  specifications  as  to  the  safety  devices  required 
on  the  boilers.  The  act  of  1887  made  the  directions  still 
more  specific.     The  act 1  reads  as  follows  : 

1  Laws  of  188?,  chap.  xlix. 


8!]  GENERAL  FACTORY  ACTS  8l 

No  person  or  corporation  shall  manufacture,  sell,  use,  or 
cause  to  be  used,  except  as  hereinafter  provided,  any  steam 
boiler  in  this  state  unless  it  is  provided  with  a  fusible  safety- 
plug,  made  of  lead  for  boilers  carrying  a  steam  pre'ssure  above 
fifty  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  of  tin  for  boilers  carrying 
steam  pressure  of  fifty  pounds  and  less  per  square  inch,  and 
said  safety  plug  shall  be  not  less  than  one-half  inch  in  diam- 
eter, and  shall  be  placed  in  the  roof  of  the  fire-box  when  a  fire- 
box is  used,  and  in  all  cases  shall  be  placed  in  the  part  of  the 
boiler  fully  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  fire,  and  as  near  the 
surface  line  of  the  water  as  good  judgment  shall  dictate,  ex- 
cepting in  cases  of  upright  tubular  boilers,  when  the  upper 
tube  sheet  is  placed  above  the  surface  line  of  the.  water,  which 
class  of  boilers  shall  be  exempted  from  the  provisions  of  this 
section. 

If  any  person  without  just  and  proper  cause  removes  from 
the  boiler  the  safety  plug,  or  substitutes  any  material  more ' 
capable  of  resisting  the  action  of  the  fire,  or  if  any  person  or 
corporation  uses  or  causes  to  be  used,  for  six  consecutive 
days,  or  manufactures  or  sells  a  steam  boiler  of  a  class  not 
exempted  from  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  section,  un- 
provided with  such  safety  fusible  plug,  such  offender  shall  be 
fined  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars. 

The  regulation  of  safety  appliances  on  boilers  was  a  mat- 
ter of  some  litigation  in  the  courts.  A  steam  engine  is 
not  per  se  a  nuisance  (Brightman  v.  Bristol,  65  Me.,  426), 
but  a  stationary  steam  engine  without  a  license  is  a  nuisance, 
although  damages  from  fire  are  not  recoverable  (Burbank 
v.  Bethel  S.  M.  Co.,  75  Me.,  373).  An  engine  in  proper 
place  and  properly  constructed  is  not  a  nuisance  as  a  matter 
of  law  (75  Me.,  373).  The  duty  of  enforcement  has  caused 
much  trouble  to  many  of  the  factory  inspectors. 

§  5.  Attendance  Laws. — It  is  not  unnatural  that  this  la- 
bor movement  should  be  coincident  with  the  establishment 
of  the  educational  movement  for  the  first  time  on  an  ade- 


82  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [82 

quate  basis.  In  1887  a  strict  compulsory  attendance  and 
truant  law  x  was  enacted.  The  law  required  that  children 
between  the  ages  of  eight  and  fifteen  should  attend  school 
for  fifteen  weeks  with  a  penalty  for  neglect,  from  ten  to 
fifty  dollars,  but  the  feature  which  had  been  omitted  for  so 
long  and  had  caused  the  failure  in  enforcement  of  so  many 
compulsory  education  acts  was  this  time  included.  Truant 
officers  were  required  to  be  elected  by  the  cities  and  towns. 
It  was  thus  for  the  first  time  that  a  broad  preventive  meas- 
sure  adequate  to  protect  all  the  children  of  the  community 
found  a  permanent  place  on  the  statute  books  of  the  State. 

A  newspaper  writer  2  of  the  time  who  complained  that 
"  the  tendency  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  has  been  to 
place  government  further  from  the  people,"  shows  how  hard 
it  is  to  read  history  aright  from  the  signs  of  the  times. 

1  Laws  of  1887. 

2  Kennebec  lournal  (July  4,  1887),  "Civics  in  Public  Schools." 


CHAPTER  VI 

Expansion  of  Factory  Legislation.     (1887-1904) 

§  1.  The  Bureau  of  Statistics  and  Inspection. — The  act 
of  the  legislature  establishing  a  Bureau  of  Industrial  and 
Labor  Statistics  was  approved  March  7,  1887,  and  on  May 
17th  S.  W.  Matthews  was  appointed  commissioner.  On 
July  8th  L.  R.  Campbell  was  appointed  and  qualified  as 
deputy  commissioner.  By  some  confusion  the  office  of  the 
inspector  who  was  to  enforce  the  factory  legislation  was 
only  nominally  incorporated  as  a  part  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics.  This  was  in  no  wise  the  intention  of  the  intro- 
ducer of  the  bill,  Mr.  Lyons,  and  immediately  upon  its  pas- 
sage the  fallacy  of  the  situation  presented  itself.  Commis- 
sioner Matthews  in  his  first  annual  report *  complained 
bitterly  of  the  "  misapprehension  "  as  to  the  work  of  his 
department,  and  tells  how  much  trouble  has  been  caused  by 
referring  to  him  what  was  distinctly  the  work  of  Mr. 
Campbell.  This  confusion  was  enhanced  by  the  location 
of  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Industrial  and  Labor 
Statistics  in  the  State  House  at  Augusta,  while  the  Deputy 
Commissioner,  not  having  been  provided  with  any  office  or 
headquarters,  took  up  his  official  residence  at  Rockland. 
Mr.  Matthews  wisely  took  upon  himself  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  work'  of  other  bureaus  in  the  country  and 
attended  the  Fifth  Annual  Convention  of  Chiefs  and  Com- 
missioners of  the  Bureaus  of  Statistics  and  Labor.     Mr. 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1887,  p.  2. 
83]  83 


84  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [84 

Campbell  proceeded  to  organize  his  department  by  issuing 
a  form  of  printed  notice  to  manufacturers  which  had  been 
approved  by  Attorney-General  O.  D.  Baker.  He  spent 
much  time  in  familiarizing  himself  with  the  conditions  in 
regard  to  the  ten-hour  day  and  the  twelve-year  limit. 
"  With  but  few  exceptions,"  the  deputy  commissioner 
found  *  "  a  general  observance  of  the  act."  "  The  ten- 
hour  law  seems  to  be  generally  satisfactory  to  all  con- 
cerned. Occasionally  a  piece  worker  stated  that  he  would 
like  to  go  back  to  the  old  state  of  things.  Several  man- 
agers of  cotton  mills  said  that  their  production  was  as 
large  under  the  ten  as  under  the  eleven  hour  arrangement. 
This  of  course  implied  that  they  had  improved  machinery, 
the  speed  had  been  increased  and  that  no  waste  of  time  was 
allowed."  In  regard  to  child  labor  he  says,  "  It  is  impos- 
sible to  obtain  correct  information  as  to  the  number  of 
children  under  twelve  years  of  age  employed  in  the  mills 
and  workshops  before  July  1st,  1887,  at  which  time  the  law 
went  into  effect,  but  it  is  universally  acknowledged  by  per- 
sons well  able  to  judge  that  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
has  done  much  to  keep  children  under  twelve  years  of  age 
out  of  the  mills  and  shops."  The  regulations  in  regard  to 
school  attendance  did  not  take  effect  until  January  1,  1888, 
before  which  time  Mr.  Campbell  had  succeeded  in  notifying 
the  mills  and  workshops  of  the  arrangement  and  having 
them  ready  to  comply  with  the  law. 

§  2.  Labor  Aids  Enforcement. — In  these  early  days  of 
enforcement  the  labor  organizations  were  a  great  advantage 
as  auxiliaries  to  the  officials  of  the  department.  "  In  carry- 
ing on  the  work,"  says  Labor  Commissioner  Matthews,  "  in 
which  I  am  engaged,  I  have  found  labor  organizations  of 
great  service  in  enabling  me  to  reach  the  laborers  as  I  could 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1887,  p.  219. 


85]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  85 

not  otherwise  have  done.  In  short  I  have  come  to  believe 
that  the  solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  evolution  rather  than 
revolution." 

§  3.  Some  Faults  in  The  Laws. — The  first  investigation 
of  the  labor  conditions  of  the  State  was  now  possible,  and 
during  the  year  1888  the  deputy  commissioner  was  engaged 
in  this  work.  Unfortunately  his  report  deals  more  with  im- 
pressions than  with  exact  data,  but  considerable  light  is 
thrown  upon  the  difficulties  of  enforcing  these  laws.  In 
speaking  of  the  ten-hour  law,  he  says : * 

After  a  year's  trial  and  investigation,  your  deputy  commis- 
sioner is  of  the  opinion  that  the  extra  sixty-hour  clause  should 
be  struck  out  of  the  law,  as  it  furnishes  to  the  piece-workers 
and  manufacturers  a  chance  to  violate  the  law,  and  when 
caught  at  work  longer  than  the  time-table  gives,  will  fall  back 
on  the  excuse,  "  I  am  working  on  my  extra  sixty  hours." 
That  the  law  may  be  carried  out  more  effectually,  your  deputy 
would  recommend  that  a  law  be  passed  whereby  in  every 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  establishment  a  certain  number 
of  minutes  be  allowed  to  start  their  work  before  the  time 
designated  in  their  time-table. 

Speaking  of  the  employment  of  children  since  the  pas- 
sage of  the  law,  he  tells  us,2  "the  benefits  resulting  are  seen 
in  every  manufacturing  city  and  village  in  our  State.  It 
has  given  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  in  the  enforcement 
of  this  law,  to  find  that  the  public  are  in  full  and  hearty 
accord  with  the  law ;  also  agents  and  overseers  in  the  mills 
have  told  me  that  at  first  the  law  caused  them  a  great  deal 
of  trouble,  but  that  when  it  got  regulated  it  would  work 
well,  and  that  they  were  in  favor  of  its  enforcement."     In 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1888,  p.  9. 

2  Ibid . 


86  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [86 

this  report  we  see  that  the  inspector  first  met  with  the  prob- 
lem of  false  certificates  which  has  troubled  every  inspector 
since  his  day.  He  says : x  "  No  doubt  there  are  children 
working  in  our  factories  under  age,  whose  certificates  were 
falsified  by  their  parents.  A  great  number  of  children  em- 
ployed in  the  State  in  factories  and  workshops  are  of  for- 
eign birth,  and  even  when  the  children  are  born  in  the 
State,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  any  facts  regarding 
the  date  of  their  birth,  excepting  when  they  are  baptized  in 
some  church.  It  is  hoped  that  our  State  will  use  more  ef- 
fective machinery  for  registering  births." 

Despite  the  defects  in  the  laws  many  children  were  re- 
turned to  the  public  schools  during  1888.  Auburn  reported 
an  increase  of  5%,  Lisbon  10%,  Westbrook  5%  and  Lewis- 
ton  10%.  Portland  had  no  mills,  so  shows  no  increase. 
In  Brunswick  and  Biddeford  the  parochials  received  the 
children.  There  remained  in  the  mills  some  461  children 
from  twelve  to  fifteen,  or  2^2%  of  the  operatives.2 

§  4.  Failure  of  School  Authorities  to  Cooperate. — An- 
other difficulty  of  the  law  met  by  the  deputy  commissioner 
in  his  first  year  of  inspection  was  the  still  difficult  problem 
of  correlation  of  his  work  with  that  of  the  school  depart- 
ment. He  complains  most  bitterly  that  the  local  school 
authorities  who  have  charge  of  the  placing  in  school  of  chil- 
dren he  removes  from  the  factories  do  not  do  the  work  re- 
quired of  them  by  law.  The  result  is  "  when  children,  in 
a  great  many  cases  are  sent  out  of  the  mills  to  attend  school 
they  play  truant  in  the  street,  or  apply  at  another  factory 
for  work.  To  avoid  this,  the  manufacturers  in  Lewiston 
notify  each  other  of  any  discharge  of  children  who  are  un- 
der the  legal  age  and  are  required  to  attend  school." 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1888,  p.  10. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  162.  8  Ibid.,  pp.  n- 12. 


Sy]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  gy 

A  careful  investigation  1  of  women's  work  was  also  made 
that  year  by  Mrs.  Flora  E.  Haines,  a  special  agent  of  the 
Bureau.  Her  description  of  the  condition  of  the  women  in 
the  cotton  mills  shows  the  sixty-hour  law  enforced  and  the 
general  conditions  above  the  average.  It  is  of  interest  to 
note  that  the  York  Mills,  which  in  early  times  (1841)  had 
taken  an  interest  in  its  young  help,  boasted  of  "  a  school 
for  its  youngest  girls  during  two  hours  in  the  forenoon 
and  two  hours  in  the  afternoon."  2 

§  5.  Bureau  vs.  Factory  Department. — The  success  of 
the  Bureau  during  the  first  year  is  shown  by  the  annual 
message  of  Governor  Burleigh.  He  says : 3  "  The  Labor 
Bureau,  which  was  established  at  the  last  legislature  has 
done  a  valuable  work  for  the  State  as  the  report  of  the 
Commissioner  well  demonstrates.  I  suggest  that  the  State 
may  with  great  profit  give  a  wider  scope  for  the  operations 
of  the  Bureau."  The  Governor's  suggestion  was  followed 
out  by  the  next  legislature  which  increased  the  appropria- 
tions for  the  Bureau  from  five  to  six  thousand  and  ordered 
that  ten  thousand  copies  instead  of  six  thousand  of  the  re- 
port be  printed.  This  appropriation  made  it  possible  for 
the  Bureau  to  add  a  special  agent,  Mr.  T.  J.  Lyons,  to  its 
staff.  The  annual  report  of  the  Bureau 4  would  suggest  that 
Deputy-Commissioner  Campbell  had  also  been  put  to  work 
on  statistics,  for  during  the  year  he  complied  with  the  legal 
requirement  imposed  upon  him,  "  to  assist  in  the  collection 
of  statistics  and  other  information  which  may  be  required 
for  the  use  of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statis- 
tics," but  as  he  makes  no  report  for  this  second  year  as  to 

1  Report   of   Bureau   of   Industrial   and   Labor   Statistics,    1888,    pp. 
1 14-148. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  117. 

3  Annual  Message  of  Governor,  p.  15,  Public  Documents,  1889. 

4  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1889,  p.  5. 


88  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [88 

factory  inspection  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  bill  was 
introduced  that  year  to  abolish  Mr.  Campbell's  office.  The 
appeal  for  the  factory  children  made  at  the  hearing  defeated 
the  measure. 

The  same  legislature  passed  three  other  bills  affecting 
labor.  One  of  these  was  the  conspiracy  act.  It  is  stated 
that  there  was  an  agreement  reached  between  the  conserva- 
tives and  radicals  which  provided  that  the  Looney  labor  bill, 
the  Lyons  bureau  bill,  the  Noble  fortnightly  bill  and  several 
other  lesser  labor  measures  should  be  passed  in  1887,  if  an 
act  of  conspiracy  was  also  allowed  to  pass.  This  act  was 
very  strongly  opposed  by  the  labor  men  at  whose  organiza- 
tion it  was  directed,  but  the  compromise  had  to  be  made. 
The  act x  reads  as  follows : 

Whoever  by  threat,  intimidation  or  iforce,  alone  or  in  com- 
bination with  others,  prevents  any  person  from  entering  into 
or  continuing  in  the  employment  of  any  person,  firm  or  cor- 
poration shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than 
two  years  or  by  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars. 

This  law  caused  a  great  falling-off  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  on  account  of  the  dangers  of  being  in- 
volved in  a  conspiracy.  The  whole  power  of  the  labor 
forces  was  exerted  to  agitate  for  its  repeal. 

Another  bill  passed  at  this  time  2  was  an  act  to  abolish 
imprisonment  for  debt  except  in  case  of  fraud.  It  pro- 
vided the  working  man  an  opportunity  to  assign  the  bills 
he  had  to  a  trustee  and  begin  again  without  going  to  jail 
while  his  family  was  left  to  the  town  to  support. 

The  same  year  a  bill 3  was  introduced  and  passed  to  "  pro- 

1  Laws  of  1889,  chap,  ccciii,  p.  267. 

2  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1889,  p.  139. 

3  Laws  of  1889,  chap,  ccxiii. 


89]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  89 

vide  against  the  danger  of  spread  of  smallpox  in  paper 
mills."  It  was  a  general  health  regulation  and  provided 
more  for  the  safety  of  the  general  community  than  the 
employees  of  the  factory. 

The  commissioner  assigned  the  deputy  the  special  duty  for 
the  year  1890  of  inquiring  into  the  violation  of  the  regula- 
tions of  the  hours  of  women  and  children.  The  investiga- 
tion x  showed  that  the  ten-hour  law  was  working  well  and 
seemed  to  be  satisfactory,  but  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  accidents  made  imperative  their  registration  and  the  reg- 
ulation by  law  of  the  age  of  those  who  were  to  engage  in 
the  cleaning  of  machinery.  The  danger  of  fire  was  also 
great.  The  investigation  tended  to  show  the  need  of  hav- 
ing the  power  of  enforcement  given  to  the  factory  inspec- 
tor instead  of  being  left  in  the  hands  of  town  officers  and 
"  fire  engineers." 

The  opening  of  the  legislature  in  1891  had  the  problem 
of  the  extension  of  the  factory  department  placed  before 
it  by  the  Governor's  message  2  and  several  bills  were  im- 
mediately introduced  to  follow  out  some  of  the  suggestions 
of  the  deputy  commissioner.  A  provision  was  made  by 
the  "act3  to  give  the  right  of  action  for  injuries  causing 
death,"  by  which  the  court  might  determine  the  liability  for 
an  accident  which  resulted  fatally. 

Labor  was  further  encouraged  by  the  passage  of  a  bill 4 
making  Labor  Day  a  legal  holiday.  "  The  first  Monday 
of  September  of  each  year,  being  the  day  celebrated  and 
known  as  labor's  holiday,  is  hereby  made  a  legal  public 
holiday,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  in  the  same  manner  as 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1890,  p.  169. 

2  Annual  Message  of  Governor,  Public  Documents,  1891,  p.  13. 

3  Laws  of  189 1,  chap,  cxxiv,  sees.  1-2. 

4  Ibid.,  chap.  xix. 


9o  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [go 

Thanksgiving,  Fast  and  Christmas  days,  the  twenty-second 
day  of  February,  the  thirtieth  day  of  May,  and  the  fourth 
day  of  July,  are  now  by  law  made  public  holidays." 

The  conspiracy  law  passed  in  1887  and  which  had  caused 
so  much  consternation  among  the  unions  was  amended  by 
the  following  act : 1  "  Any  employer,  employee,  or  other 
person,  who,  by  threats  of  injury,  intimidation  or  force, 
alone  or  in  combination  with  others,  prevents  any  person 
from  entering  into,  continuing  in  or  leaving  the  employment 
of  any  person,  firm  or  corporation,  shall  be  punished  by 
imprisonment  for  not  more  than  two  years,  or  by  fine  not 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars."  The  amendment  took  out 
the  bitter  sting  in  the  former  act  and  left  a  rather  harmless 
statute.     It  has  never  been  used  since  it  was  so  amended. 

The  legislature  was  liberal  enough  to  again  increase  the 
budget  for  the  bureau,  but  the  factory  department  was  not 
increased. 

§  6.  Changes  in  Factory  Department. — A  change  in  fac- 
tory inspectors  took  place  in  189 1.  In  the  place  of  Mr. 
Campbell,  Mr.  R.  F.  Chalk  was  appointed  deputy  com- 
missioner. This  gentleman  was  eminently  fitted  for  the 
position  on  account  of  his  nineteen  years  experience  in 
cotton  mills.  The  recommendation  2  of  this  deputy  com- 
missioner in  1892  was  for  the  extension  of  a  child-labor  law 
so  as  to  cover  messenger  service,  etc.,  the  raising  of  the  age 
limit  to  fourteen  years,  and  the  giving  the  deputy  com- 
missioner power  to  refer  unsanitary  conditions  to  the  local 
health  bureau.  His  investigation  3  shows  that  the  percent- 
age of  women  at  work  in  the  mills  had  greatly  increased 
and  that  they  had  been  supplanting  child  labor.     Commis- 

1  Laws  of  1891,  chap,  cxxvii,  p.  139. 

2  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1892,  p.  216. 
» Ibid.,  p.  217. 


9I]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  g1 

sioner  Matthews  in  the  same  report *  recommends  that  the 
deputy  commissioner  of  labor  should  be  given  a  department 
of  his  own  separate  from  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and 
Labor  Statistics,  and  that  his  title  should  be  changed  to 
Chief  Factory  Inspector.  The  legislature  of  1893  followed 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Matthews  and  passed  an  act  to 
change  the  official  title  of  the  Deputy  Commissioner  of 
Labor.     This  act  was  as  follows : 2 

Section  1.  The  official  title  of  the  officer  now  known  as 
deputy  commissioner  of  labor  is  hereby  changed  to  inspector 
of  factories,  workshops,  mines  and  quarries. 

Section  2.  Chapter  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  of  the  public 
laws  of  1887  is  hereby  amended  by  striking  out  the  words, 
"deputy  commissioner  of  labor"  wherever  they  occur  in  said 
chapter  and  inserting  in  their  places  the  words  "  inspector  of 
factories,  workshops,  mines  and  quarries/' 

It  also  passed  an  act  extending  the  powers  of  the  in- 
spector of  factories  as  follows : 3 

Section  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  inspector  of  factories, 
workshops,  mines  and  quarries,  upon  complaint,  to  inquire 
into,  and  prosecute  for,  any  violations  of  chapter  134  of  the 
public  laws  of  1887. 

Section  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  inspector  of  factories, 
workshops,  mines  and  quarries  to  examine  into  the  sanitary 
condition  of  factories,  workshops,  mines  and  quarries,  and 
when. any  condition  or  thing  is  found  that,  in  his  opinion  en- 
dangers the  health  or  lives  of  the  employees  he  shall  notify  the 
local  board  of  health,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  board 
to  investigate  the  matter. 

Section  3.     It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  inspector  of  factories, 

1  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1892,  p.  8. 

2  Lazvs  of  1893,  chap.  ccxx.  3  Ibid.,  chap,  ccxcii. 


92  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [g2 

workshops,  mines  and  quarries  to  enforce  the  due  observance 
of  sections  twenty-five  and  twenty-six  of  chapter  twenty-six  of 
the  revised  statutes,  relating  to  the  swinging  of  doors  in  all 
factories  and  workshops. 

Sec.  4.  The  inspector  of  factories,  workshops,  mines  and 
quarries  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  December  an- 
nually submit  his  report  to  the  commissioner  of  industrial  and 
labor  statistics,  which  shall  be  incorporated  in,  and  printed 
with,  the  annual  report  from  the  bureau  of  industrial  and 
labor  statistics. 

Sec.  5.  All  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  herewith  are 
hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  6.     This  act  shall  take  effect  when  approved. 

The  proper  enforcement  of  section  3  caused  the  factory 
inspector  some  trouble  through  the  inclusion  of  section  26 
of  chapter  26  of  the  Revised  Statutes.  The  section  re- 
ferred to  school  buildings  and  was  entirely  outside  of  his 
general  jurisdiction.  It  was  evident  that  its  incorporation 
in  this  statute  was  clearly  one  of  those  mistakes  which  result 
from  poor  drafting  of  legislation  during  a  busy  session. 
The  opinion  of  the  attorney-general  became  necessary,  and 
the  following  statement  relieved  the  factory  department  of 
responsibility  in  this  matter: x  "Section  3  is  plainly  a  legis- 
lative enactment  or  declaration  that  the  provisions  of  Sec- 
tion 26  shall  apply  to  factories  and  workshops.  I  find  no 
reference  to  swinging  doors  in  section  26  of  chapter  26  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  and  I  fail  to  see  ho-w  you  (the  factory 
inspector)  have  any  official  duties  in  regard  to  the  enact- 
ment of  that  section." 

The  same  legislature  passed  an  act2  for  the  regulation 
of  labels  for  workingmen's  unions,  which  assured  to  the 
unions  full  protection  in  the  use  of  their  labels. 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1893,  p.  212. 

2  Laws  of  1893,  chap,  cclxxvi,  sees.  1-7. 


93]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  93 

§  7.  Results  from  Child  Labor  Law  Enforcement. — 
Factory  Inspector  Chalk's  report  of  1893  §"iyes  us  the  first 
official  tabulation  of  the  employees  under  the  age  of  fifteen 
in  the  cotton  mills  of  Maine.1  He  shows  that  in  1892,  446 
children  under  the  age  of  fifteen  were  employed,  of  whom 
280  were  boys  and  166  girls.  In  1893  the  number  of  chil- 
dren employed  had  been  reduced  to  325,  a  decrease  of  121, 
of  whom  201  were  boys  and  124  girls.  He  estimates  that 
the  number  of  children  employed  had  been  reduced  by  about 
300  in  the  last  six  years,  i.  e.,  since  the  law  of  1887  went 
into  effect,  which  was  a  reduction  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent. 
Inspector  Chalk  points  out  an  increase  of  children  working 
in  the  woolen  mills  from  28  to  78  between  the  years  of 
1892  and  1893,  and  suggests  that  poverty  has  been  the 
cause.  He  shows  the  increase  in  welfare  features  to  the 
extent  of  $23,000  spent  for  improvements.  He  urges 
further  protective  measures  for  the  safety  of  children  in 
mercantile  establishments,  for  better  toilet  conditions  in 
smaller  industries  and  the  more  universal  application  of 
safety  appliances. 

The  year  1894  2  showed  a  decided  decrease  in  the  num- 
ber of  children  employed  under  the  age  of  fifteen  in  cotton 
mills,  the  number  having  been  reduced  from  325  to  102. 
The  number  of  children  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  in  cot- 
ton mills  numbered  347,  in  woolen  mills  there  were  only 
fourteen  reported  as  employed.  About  $3,000  was  spent 
by  employers  during  the  year  in  sanitary  improvements,  a 
large  number  of  safety  devices  were  suggested  by  the  fac- 
tory inspector  as  of  great  value. 

§  8.  Difficulties  of  Enforcement  of  Labor  Laws  during 
Financial  Depression. — The  next  year,   1895,  was  one  m 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1893,  p.  212. 

2  Ibid.,  1894. 


94  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [94 

which  the  results  of  hard  times  were  felt  very  much  by  the 
people.  "  Feelings  of  unrest  and  discontent  manifested 
themselves  in  many  parts  of  the  State.  Pay  day  was  in 
some  cases  deferred  and  children  were  illegally  put  into  the 
mills  to  make  up  the  losses  in  the  family  budgets."  1  Child- 
labor  statistics  gathered  by  the  inspector  show  a  total  of 
1,190  children  employed,  547  of  them  being  under  the  age 
of  fifteen.  Of  these  457  were  in  cotton  mills,  67  in  woolen 
mills,  17  in  shoe  factories  and  6  miscellaneous.  Of  these 
there  were  illegally  employed,  67  in  the  cotton  mills,  24  in 
the  woolen  mills  and  2  in  the  shoe  factories.  During  the 
season  $30,000  had  been  spent  in  improvements.  The  hard 
times  developed  the  difficulty  in  compelling  the  fortnightly 
payment  when  goods  were  not  sold.  The  inspector  says,2 
"  To  enforce  the  payment  to  the  letter  of  the  law  .... 
would  simply  mean  a  suspension  of  business  and  a  heavy 
loss  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturer,  and  a  loss  of  employ- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  working  man."  During  1896  3  the 
business  depression  throughout  the  country  continued  and 
the  factory  inspectors  could  only  continue  to  urge  upon  the 
employers  the  moral  right  in  paying  the  fortnightly  wage. 
The  retirement  at  the  time  of  R.  F.  Chalk  after  five  years  of 
service  as  inspector  was  a  great  loss  to  the  department. 
Even  Governor  Powers'  message  of  1897  showed  the  need 
arising  from  the  industrial  conditions.     He  says : 4 

Capital  and  labor  have  generally  complemented  and  assisted 
each  other,  and  we  reasonably  hope  that  this  state  of  things  is 
to  continue  in  the  future.  Yet  there  are  some  labor  problems 
to  be  solved  even  in  our  State.  Many  wage  earners  are  en- 
gaged in  very  hazardous  vocations  on  railroads,  steamships, 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1895,  p.  204. 

2  Ibid.,  1895,  p.  231.  8  Ibid.,  1896,  p.  231. 
♦Governor's  Annual  Message,  1897;  Pub.  Docs.,  1897,  p.  23. 


95]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  95 

and  in  some  factories  and  mills.     Often  they  cannot  and  do 
not  know  what  dangers  and  perils  surround  them. 

Every  humane  consideration  demands  that  the  best  possible 
safeguards  should  be  thrown  about  them;  and  that  employers 
should  exercise  the  highest  degree  of  care  in  the  selection  of 
everything  to  be  used  in  and  about  their  work.  Questions  of 
this  kind  involving  the  liability  of  employers,  and  also  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  number  of  hours  of  labor  under  certain 
conditions  and  ages,  are  still  being  agitated.  You  should  not 
grant  legislation  in  any  case  because  it  is  demanded  by  the 
wage  earners  on  one  side,  or  refuse  it  because  it  is  opposed  by 
the  employers  on  the  other,  but  rather  in  the  exercise  of  a 
sound  discretion,  and  your  unbiased  judgment,  do  what  you 
believe  to  be  just  and  for  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned. 

During  1897  business  improved  and  the  number  of  chil- 
dren employed  in  cotton  mills  in  the  State  greatly  decreased, 
according  to  the  report  of  Charles  E.  Atwood,  the  new 
factory  inspector,  230  under  the  age  of  fifteen,  a  decrease  of 
over  fifty  per  cent  in  two  years.  Children  between  fifteen 
and  sixteen  working  numbered  561. 

§  9.  Employment  Bureau  Law. — The  legislature  of  1899 
passed  an  amendment 1  to  the  employment  office  law 
of  1895.  Employment  offices  were  first  regulated  by  the 
act  of  1854,  chapter  105,  1,  E,  to  which  the  amendment  of 
1855  added  penalties.  Licenses  were  required  in  1899 
and  the  manner  of  their  registration  was  perfected  by 
Chapter  114  of  the  law  of  1903. 

§  10.  Powers  of  the  Factory  Inspector  Defined  by  Court. 
— Maine  legislation  has  followed  that  of  other  States  so 
closely  that  test  cases  have  been  almost  unnecessary,  but 
during  the  year  a  test  case  was  brought  in  the  Supreme 
Court  to  test  the  right  of  the  factory  inspector  to  demand 
the  certificates  of  age  required  by  the  act  of  1887.  The 
1  Laws  of  1899,  chap.  iii. 


96  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [gft 

decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  1897,  State  vs.  Donaldson, 
84  Maine  55,  reads  as  follows: 

The  refusal  and  neglect  of  the  employer  of  labor  in  a  manu- 
facturing or  mechanical  establishment  to  produce  certificates 
of  the  ages  and  places  of  birth  of  children  under  sixteen  years 
of  age,  employed,  in  such  establishment,  for  the  inspection  of 
the  deputy  commissioner  of  labor,  is  not  an  interference  with 
his  duties  within  the  meaning  of  this  chapter.  The  term  "in- 
terfere "  as  therein  used  relates  to  some  action  directed  to  the 
person,  or  some  active  personal  obstruction  or  interference  in 
the  performance  of  his  duties,  and  not  mere  non-action. 

The  powers  of  the  factory  inspector  were  thus  limited  to 
the  right  to>  search  for  violations  of  the  law  in  the  factories 
and  the  bringing  of  action  against  the  parents  of  the  chil- 
dren. The  employer  was  freed  from  liability  even  for  fail- 
ure to  file  certificates.  This  was  a  radical  defect  in  the 
law  and  made  its  efficient  enforcement  almost  impossible. 

§  11.  Attempts  to  Improve  Compulsory  Education  Laws. 
— The  year  1899  was  marked  by  the  holding  in  Augusta  of 
the  convention  x  of  the  officials  of  Bureaus  of  Labor  Statis- 
tics, which  should  have  given  a  great  impetus  to  the  factory 
legislation  of  the  State,  but  did  not  appear  to  have  had  any 
results  locally.  The  report  -  of  the  factory  inspector  for 
1898  shows  an  increase  in  the  total  number  of  children  em- 
ployed under  the  age  of  sixteen  to  788,  but  of  these  554 
were  of  the  class  between  fifteen  and  sixteen,  while  234  were 
under  fifteen.  It  was  estimated  by  the  factory  department 
that  there  were  twenty  thousand  between  five  and  seventeen 
not  attending  school,  and  it  was  the  complaint  of  the  depart- 
ment that  there  was  no  cooperation  between  the  school  au- 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1899,  p.  102. 

2  Ibid.,  1898,  p.  210. 


97]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  gy 

thorities  and  the  factory  inspector  in  the  enforcement  of  the 
compulsory  education  laws.  This  was  an  old  complaint.  It 
was  further  suggested  that  Section  8  of  the  act  of  1887  to 
regulate  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  employment  of  women 
and  children,  be  amended  so  as  to  require  a  transcript  of 
the  birth  record  to  be  filed  with  the  mill  agent. 

The  year  1899  shows  an  increase  in  the  number  of  chil- 
dren employed,  but  it  is  claimed  by  the  factory  inspector 
that  the  percentage  of  increase  in  the  number  of  children 
was  much  smaller  than  the  increase  of  adults  employed.  In 
that  year  there  were  349  children  under  fifteen  and  573 
between  fifteen  and  sixteen.  In  this  same  year  a  strict 
truant  and  compulsory  education  law  1  was  passed  requir- 
ing children  between  seven  and  fifteen  inclusive  to  attend 
some  public  school  during  the  time  the  school  was  in  session, 
unless  excused  by  the  school  officers.  All  persons  having 
children  under  their  control  were  required  to  cause  them 
to  attend  school  as  required  by  law  under  penalty  of  a  fine 
not  exceeding  twenty-five  dollars  for  each  offense,  or  im- 
prisonment not  exceeding  thirty  days.  Any  child  who 
shall  be  absent  without  sufficient  excuse  six  or  more  times 
during  any  term  shall  be  deemed  an  habitual  truant  and  if 
after  admonition  the  truancy  is  continued,  the  child,  if  a 
boy,  may  be  committed  to  the  State  Reform  School,  and  if 
a  girl,  to  the  State  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  or  to  any 
truant  school  that  may  hereafter  be  established.  Any  per- 
son having  control  of  a  child  who  is  an  habitual  truant  and 
who  shall  in  any  way  be  responsible  for  its  truancy  shall  be 
subject  to  a  fine  nor  exceeding  twenty  dollars  or  to  im- 
prisonment not  exceeding  thirty  days.  Cities  and  towns 
are  required  to  elect  truant  officers  under  penalty  of  from 
ten  to  fifty  dollars. 

1  Laws  of  1899,  chap.  lxxx. 


98  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [98 

The  value  of  these  provisions  was  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  they  had  the  support  of  the  court  decision  *  in  Omaha 
v.  Winthrop,  65  Maine  129,  where  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Maine  held  that  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  a  truant  may  be 
served  by  a  truant  officer,  and  the  truant  sentenced  to  re- 
form school  or  house  of  correction  during  minority.  The 
execution  of  the  sentence  might  be  suspended. 

Unfortunately  this  law  proved  too  strict  for  the  time, 
and  the  legislature  of  1901  2  reduced  the  age  from  fifteen 
to  fourteen  years,  inclusive,  with  some  interesting  results, 
as  we  shall  see. 

§  12.  Effect  of  Compulsory  Education  Laws  on  Child 
Labor  (i8pp-ipoj). — In  1900,  Mr.  Atwood,  the  Factory 
Inspector,  makes  a  more  favorable  report 3  as  to  the  num- 
ber of  children  working,  there  being  a  decrease  of  247  in 
the  number  under  sixteen,  the  totals  for  the  year  making 
675  under  sixteen,  425  between  fifteen  and  sixteen,  and  250 
under  fifteen. 

In  1 90 1  we  find  the  inspections  are  continuing  as  usual, 
there  has  been  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  children 
employed.  The  reason  for  this  as  stated  4  by  Mr.  Atwood 
is  sugggestive. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  children  under  fifteen  years 
of  age  has  decreased,  while  the  number  between  fifteen  and  six- 
teen has  increased.  This  may  be  accounted  for  from  the  fact  that 
when  business  is  prosperous  the  causes  that  prompt  infractions 
of  the  law  are  not  so  pressing.  When  labor  is  scarce  and  wages 
are  reasonably  high,  there  is  not  the  same  incentive  to  send  chil- 
dren of  tender  years  into  factories  to  work  as  when  the  reverse 
is  the  case.    Business  depression  causes  a  lowering  of  the  wages 

1  Public  Documents,  1889,  School  Laws,  p.  6. 

2  Laws  of  1901,  chap,  clxxxv,  sec.  1. 

8  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1900. 
4  Ibid.,  1901,  p.  184. 


99]  EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  99 

received  by  the  father  and  hence  induces  him  to  resort  to  sub- 
terfuges, if  not  to  absolute  violation  of  law,  in  order  that 
his  under-age  children  may  assist  him  to  eke  out  the  usual 
family  income.  But  the  year  1901,  in  all  branches  of  manufac- 
turing enterprise,  has  been  very  prosperous,  and  for  that  reason 
the  number  of  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  employed  in 
industrial  pursuits,  has  appreciably  fallen  off.  In  1899  the 
number  of  children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  employed  in 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  establishments  in  the  State  was 
349 ;  in  1900,  the  number  was  250  and  in  1901  it  was  219.  The 
falling  off  in  the  number  of  children  employed  under  fifteen 
years  is  partially  accounted  for  by  the  change  of  the  law  of  last 
winter  reducing  the  school  limit  from  fifteen  to  fourteen  years 
inclusive.  Children  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age, 
being  released  from  compulsory  school  attendance,  increased  in 
the  mills  from  425  in  1900  to  725  in  1901,  and  to  some  extent 
have  displaced  those  under  fifteen  years. 

The  relation  of  the  factory  inspector  and  the  school  au- 
thorities was  still  very  confused.  In  1902  1  both  the  com- 
pulsory education  law  and  the  child-labor  law  required 
school  attendance  of  children  under  fifteen,  but  the  labor 
law  stipulated  only  sixteen  weeks,  while  the  compulsory 
education  law  required  attendance  during  the  full  time  the 
school  was  in  session.  The  query  naturally  arose,  should 
the  school  law  annul  the  labor  law  ?  Again  there  were  the 
two  sets  of  officers  to  enforce  the  law,  a  single  factory  in- 
spector on  one  side  and  some  500  truant  officers  on  the 
other,  with  little  or  nothing  accomplished  by  either.  Dur- 
ing the  year  1902  there  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  children  under  fourteen  working,  from  221  to  234, 
though  the  number  under  sixteen  was  reduced  from  946 
to  719. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  1903  2  to  abolish  the  office  of 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1902,  p.  194. 

2  Ibid.,  1903,  p.  209. 


I oo  FA CTORY  LEGISLA TION  IN  MAINE  [  T QO 

factory  inspector  on  account  of  the  apparent  conflict  be- 
tween his  work  and  that  of  the  educational  authorities, 
which  called  forth  a  reply  from  the  factory  inspector,  ask- 
ing that  the  compulsory  education  law  and  the  labor  law  be 
made  identical  in  regard  to  age,  and  then  give  the  factory 
inspector  assistants  and  authority  to  enforce  both,  or  ap- 
point a  State  Truant  Officer  to  supervise. 

§  13.  Maine  Mining  Bureau. — The  legislature  of  1903, 
instead  of  reorganizing  the  office  of  inspector  of  factories 
and  mines  on  some  comprehensive  scheme,  simply  added  a 
mining  bureau  without  any  appropriation.  The  statute 
reads  as  follows : x 

Sec.  1.  The  land  agent,  the  commissioner  of  agriculture 
and  the  commissioner  of  industrial  and  labor  statistics  are 
constituted  a  mining  board  to  be  known  as  the  Maine  Mining 
Bureau.  They  shall  organize  by  electing  from  their  number  a 
president  and  a  secretary. 

Sec.  2.  Said  bureau  shall  collect  reliable  information  con- 
cerning the  deposits  of  all  precious  and  useful  minerals  and 
other  valuable  subterranean  productions  in  the  state  that  are 
supposed  to  exist  in  quantities  sufficient  to  justify  the  develop- 
ment of  such  properties. 

Sec.  3.  It  shall  establish  a  metallurgical  cabinet  of  exhibit 
of  the  state  in  such  room  in  the  state  house,  as  the  superin- 
tendent of  public  buildings  may  direct,  and  in  such  cabinet  they 
shall  properly  arrange  samples  and  specimens  of  ores,  valuable 
rocks  and  metals  of  the  state  collected  by  them,  for  the  safe 
keeping  and  preservation  of  the  same. 

Sec.  4.  It  shall  biennially  issue  a  pamphlet  containing  such 
reliable  information  concerning  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
state  as  it  has  collected,  and  shall  distribute  at  least  one  thou- 
sand copies  of  such  pamphlet  among  the  business  men  and 
capitalists  of  other  states. 

1  Laws  of  1903,  chap,  ccxxvii,  sees.  1-4. 


IOi]         EXPANSION  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IOi 

§  14.  Revival  of  the  Labor  Movement.  —  Nineteen  hun- 
dred and  four  finds  the  factory  inspector  *  still  calling  for 
the  revision  of  the  labor  laws  and  especially  recommending 
that  the  section  in  regard  to  age  should  be  changed  to  re- 
quire a  birth  certificate  countersigned  by  the  school  authori- 
ties. He  further  submits  a  bill  to  provide  guards  for  ma- 
chinery, etc.,  similar  to  the  law  in  Ohio,  and  urges  the  need 
of  an  employers'  liability  law.  While  conditions  of  child- 
labor  according  to  the  statistics  show  an  increase,  there 
being  323  children  under  fifteen,  as  against  157  in  1903, 
and  426  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  against  428. 

The  hopelessness  of  the  situation  resulted  in  the  resig- 
nation of  Mr.  Atwood  and  the  threatened  abolition  of  the 
factory  department  itself.  Fortunate  it  was  that  other 
forces  came  to  the  aid  of  the  situation  just  at  that  tirne. 
The  organization  of  the  State  Federation  of  Labor  in  June, 
1904  2  began  anew  the  agitation  for  labor  legislation,  while 
an  awakening  of  interest  in  child-labor  among  the  Feder- 
ation of  Women's  Clubs  added  another  group  of  people 
to  the  fight.  With  the  advent  of  these  organizations  be- 
gins a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  Maine  labor  legislation. 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1904,  p.  233. 

2  Labor  Journal,  1904. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Child  Labor  Campaign,  1905-1907 

§  1.  Agitation  by  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. — 
The  labor  legislation  of  1887  was  preceded  by  several  years 
of  public  agitation  upon  the  subject  conducted  by  the  educa- 
tional and  labor  agencies.  Twenty  years  later  history  re- 
peats itself.  The  growth  of  the  State  Federation  of  Labor 
had  been  marked  and  its  influence  increasing.  In  the 
Autumn  of  1904  1  a  labor  candidate  was  urged  upon  the 
Governor  for  the  Commissioner  of  Industrial  and  Labor 
Statistics  and  the  legislative  committees  of  the  Federation 
of  Labor  had  a  series  of  bills  ready  for  the  opening  of  the 
seventy-second  legislature. 

In  the  same  autumn  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  2 
appointed  an  educational  committee  to  interest  itself  in  the 
problem  of  child-labor.  The  committee  was  the  result  of 
an  address  given  during  the  previous  spring  by  Mrs.  Flor- 
ence Kelley,  Secretary  of  the  National  Consumers  League, 
and  the  investigation  of  some  of  the  women  into  the  con- 
ditions existing  in  some  of  the  mills  during  the  summer. 
In  February  the  Women's  Clubs  appointed  a  legislative 
committee  to  wait  upon  the  Governor  and  urge  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mrs.  E.  J.  Mason  of  Biddeford  as  factory  in- 
spector. Governor  Cobb  in  turn  asked  the  ladies  to  sug- 
gest a  suitable  man  for  the  position  and  through  their  in- 

1  Boston  Sunday  Globe  (Nov.  27,  1904). 

2  Unprinted  report  by  Mrs.  E.  J.  Mason,  of  Biddeford. 

102  [102 


I03]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  10^ 

fluence  George  E.  Morrison  of  Saco  was  selected  by  the 
Governor.  His  appointment  was  postponed  for  some  time 
on  account  of  the  pending  bill  for  the  abolition  of  the  office. 

§  2.  The  Legislature  of  1905. — The  legislature  of  1905 
saw  the  introduction  of  not  only  a  bill  to  amend  the  child- 
labor  law,  but  a  large  number  of  other  labor  bills.  A  bill * 
was  introduced  into  the  Senate  to  abolish  the  office  of  In- 
spector of  Factories,  Workshops,  Mines  and  Quarries.  At 
the  hearing  on  March  9th  a  plea  2  was  made  for  the  re- 
tention of  the  office  by  Commissioner  Matthews  and  a 
strong  labor  lobby.  The  Committee  on  Labor  brought  in  a 
recommendation  against  the  bill.  A  bill 3  to  make  eight 
hours  the  legal  day's  work  was  also  killed  in  committee. 
A  strong  bill 4  to  create  a  State  Board  of  Conciliation  and 
Arbitration,  though  well  supported  by  petitions,  died  in  the 
same  committee.  Labor  5  was  especially  interested  in  the 
fifty-eight  hour  bill  applying  to  the  manufacturing  and  mer- 
cantile establishments,  being  the  first  attempt  to  regulate 
the  hours  of  labor  in  the  mercantile  establishments,  but  it 
was  reported  unfavorably  by  the  Committee  on  Legal  Af- 
fairs. Bills  for  employer's  liability  and  the  regulation  of 
assignment  of  wages  6  were  lost  in  the  same  way.  An  ex- 
ception to  the  rule  was  made  in  the  case  of  the  bill 7  to  license 
plumbers,  which  was  passed.  The  bill 8  to  provide  for  the 
better  enforcement  of  the  law  relating  to  the  employment 
of  children  was  treated  a  little  less  harshly  than  the  others, 

1  Senate  Documents,  1905,  p.  488. 

2  Kennebec  Journal  (Mar.  10,  1905). 

3  Senate  Documents,  1905,  p.  4. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  5. 

5  Official  Journal,  Maine  Federation  of  Labor,  1905,  p.  45. 

6  House  Documents,  1905,  p.  480. 

7  Laws  of  1905,  chap,  lxxi,  sees.  1-4. 
s  Senate  Documents,  1905,  no.  9. 


104  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I04 

being  referred  to  the  next  legislature.  This  condescen- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  legislature  was  probably  due  to  the 
increasing  agitation  on  the  part  of  the  Federation  of  Wo- 
men's Clubs.  Mrs.  Kelley  was  again  asked  to  speak  before 
a  large  and  enthusiastic  meeting  at  the  State  House  in 
February,  and  other  meetings  were  held  by  the  ladies  in  all 
the  larger  cities  and  towns  of  the  State. 

The  failure  of  all  these  bills  in  the  legislature  postponed 
for  two  years  consideration  of  distinctly  labor  legislation, 
but  during  that  session  there  passed  a  bill 1  relating  to  the 
protection  of  children,  amending  the  "  cruelties  act."  This 
bill  vested  in  the  Governor  and  Council  the  power  to  appoint 
with  sufficient  compensation  suitable  persons  to  enforce  the 
laws  for  the  protection  of  children  with  power  to  investi- 
gate cases  of  cruelty.  Besides  providing  for  probation  of 
children,  it  gave  powers  of  probation  over  deserting  hus- 
bands and  fathers  to  these  officers  in  the  discretion  of  the 
court.  It  regulated  the  employment  of  children  in  dis- 
orderly houses,  gambling  places,  where  intoxicating  liquors 
were  sold,  or  other  places  injurious  to  health  and  morals. 
It  also  provided  against  the  exhibition  of  children  under 
sixteen  years  of  age  in  public  performance  or  in  begging 
and  providing  penalties  for  the  same.  This  law  added  a 
new  type  of  police  power,  available  to  regulate  the  work  of 
minors  and  indigent  parents. 

The  result  of  the  agitation  for  child-labor  legislation 
was  the  incorporation  into  the  educational  bill,2  passed  dur- 
ing the  session,  of  a  strong  section  on  compulsory  education. 
The  revised  law  reads  as  follows : 

Sec.  46.  Towns  may  make  such  by-laws,  not  repugnant  to 
law,  concerning  habitual  truants,  and  children  between  six  and 

1  Laws  of  1905,  chap,  cxxiii,  sec.  9.  2  Ibid.,  chap.  lxii. 


I05]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  IO$ 

seventeen  years  of  age  not  attending  school,  without  any- 
regular  and  lawful  occupation,  and  growing  up  in  ignorance, 
as  are  most  conducive  to  their  welfare  and  the  good  order  of 
society;  and  may  annex  a  suitable  penalty,  not  exceeding 
twenty  dollars,  for  any  breach  thereof;  but  such  by-laws  must 
be  first  approved  by  a  judge  of  the  supreme  judicial  court. 

Sec.  47.  Truant  officers  elected  as  provided  in  section  fifty- 
one  shall  alone  make  complaints  for  violations  of  said  by-laws, 
and  shall  execute  the  judgments  of  the  magistrate. 

Sec.  48.  Said  magistrate,  in  place  of  fine,  may  order  child- 
ren proved  to  be  growing  up  in  truancy,  and  without  the  bene- 
fit of  the  education  provided  for  them  by  law,  to  be  placed 
for  such  periods  as  he  thinks  expedient,  in  the  institution  of 
instruction,  house  of  reformation,  or  other  suitable  situation 
provided  for  the  purpose  under  section  forty-six. 

Sec.  49.  Every  child  between  the  seventh  and  fifteenth  an- 
niversaries of  his  birth  shall  attend  some  public  day  school 
during  the  time  such  school  is  in  session,  and  an  absence 
therefrom  of  one-half  day  or  more  shall  be  deemed  a  violation 
of  this  requirement;  provided  that  necessary  absence  may  be 
excused  by  the  superintending  school  committee  or  superin- 
tendent of  schools  or  teachers  acting  by  direction  of  either; 
provided  also,  that  such  attendance  shall  not  be  required  if 
the  child  obtained  equivalent  instruction,  for  a  like  period 
of  time,  in  an  approved  private  school  or  in  any  other  manner 
approved  by  the  superintending  school  committee;  provided, 
further,  that  children  shall  not  be  credited  with  attendance  at 
a  private  school  until  a  certificate  showing  their  names,  re- 
sidences and  attendance  at  such  school  signed  by  the  person 
or  persons  having  such  school  in  charge,  shall  be  filed  with  the 
school  officials  of  the  town  in  which  said  children  reside ;  and 
provided,  further,  that  the  superintending  school  committee 
may  exclude  from  the  public  schools  any  child  whose  physical 
or  mental  condition  makes  it  inexpedient  for  him  to  attend. 
All  persons  having  children  under  their  control  shall  cause 
them  to  attend  school  as  provided  in  this  section,  and  for 


io6  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [io6 

every  neglect  of  such  duty  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  ex- 
ceeding twenty-five  dollars  or  shall  be  imprisoned  not  exceed- 
ing thirty  days. 

Sec.  50.  Children  living  remote  from  any  public  school  in 
the  town  in  which  they  reside  may  be  allowed  to  attend  the 
public  schools,  other  than  a  high  school  approved  as  provided 
in  section  sixty- three,  in  an  adjoining  town,  under  such  regu- 
lations and  on  such  terms  as  the  school  committees  of  said 
towns  agree  upon  and  prescribe,  and  the  school  committee  of 
the  town  in  which  such  children  reside  shall  pay  the  sum 
agreed  upon,  out  of  the  appropriations  of  money  raised  in  said 
town  for  school  purposes.  Except  as  above  provided,  a  child 
attending  a  public  school,  other  than  a  high  school  approved 
as  provided  in  section  sixty-three,  in  a  town  in  which  his 
parent  or  legal  guardian  does  not  reside,  after  having  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  school  committee  of  such  town,  shall  pay,  as 
tuition,  a  sum  equal  to  the  average  expense  of  each  scholar  in 
such  school. 

Sec.  51.  Cities  and  towns  shall  annually  elect  one  or  more 
persons,  to  be  designated  truant  officers,  who  shall  inquire  into 
all  cases  of  neglect  of  the  duties  prescribed  in  section  forty-nine 
and  ascertain  the  reasons  therefor  and  shall  promptly  report 
the  same  to  the  superintending  school  committee,  and  such 
truant  officers  or  any  of  them  shall,  when  so  directed  by  the 
school  committee  or  superintendent  in  writing,  prosecute  in 
the  name  of  the  city  or  town,  any  person  neglecting  to  per- 
form the  duties  prescribed  in  said  section,  by  promptly  entering 
a  complaint  before  a  magistrate;  and  said  officers  shall,  when 
notified  by  any  teacher  that  any  pupil  is  irregular  in  attend- 
ance, arrest  and  take  such  pupil  to  school  when  found  truant; 
and  further  such  officers  shall  enforce  the  provisions  of  sections 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  to  one  hundred  and  twenty,  inclu- 
sive, of  this  chapter.  Every  city  or  town  neglecting  to  elect 
truant  officers,  and  truant  officers  neglecting  any  duty  required 
of  them  under  the  provisions  of  this  chapter  shall  forfeit  not 
less  than  ten  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars.     The  municipal  offi- 


I07]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  10J 

cers  shall  fix  the  compensation  to  the  truant  officers,  elected  as 
prescribed  in  this  section.  Superintending  school  committees 
may  fill  vacancies  occurring  during  the  year,  and  shall  elect 
truant  officers  at  their  first  meeting  after  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  town,  in  case  the  town  neglects  to  do  so,  or  the  truant 
officers  elect,  or  any  of  them,  fail  to  qualify. 

Sec.  52.  If  a  child  without  sufficient  excuse,  shall  be  absent 
from  school  at  six  or  more  consecutive  sessions  during  any 
term,  he  shall  be  deemed  an  habitual  truant,  and  the  superin- 
tending school  committee  shall  notify  him  and  any  person 
under  whose  control  he  may  be  that  unless  he  conforms  to 
section  forty-nine,  the  provisions  of  the  two  following  sections 
will  be  enforced  against  them;  and  if  thereafter  such  child 
continues  irregular  in  attendance,  the  truant  officers  or  any  of 
them  shall,  when  so  directed  by  the  school  committee  or  super- 
intendent in  writing,  enforce  said  provisions  by  complaint.     ' 

Sec.  53.  Any  person  having  control  of  a  child,  who  is  an 
habitual  truant,  as  defined  in  the  foregoing  section,  and  being 
in  any  way  responsible  for  such  truancy,  and  any  person  who 
induces  a  child  to  absent  himself  from  school,  or  harbors  or 
conceals  such  child  when  he  is  absent,  shall  be  punished  by  a 
fine  not  exceeding  twenty  dollars  or  shall  be  imprisoned  not 
exceeding  thirty  days. 

Sec.  54.  On  complaint  of  the  truant  officer,  an  habitual 
truant,  if  a  boy,  may  be  committed  to  the  state  school  for  boys, 
or  if  a  girl,  to  the  state  industrial  school  for  girls,  or  to 
any  truant  school  that  may  hereafter  be  established.  Police 
or  municipal  courts  and  trial  justices  shall  have  jurisdiction  of 
such  complaint  and  of  the  offences  described  in  sections  forty- 
nine,  fifty-one  and  fifty- three.  All  warrants  issued  by  said 
courts  or  trial  justices  upon  such  complaint,  or  for  an  offense 
committed  under  said  sections,  and  all  legal  processes  issued  by 
said  courts  or  trial  justices  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  into 
effect  the  provisions  of  this  section  and  of  the  said  sections 
numbered  forty-nine,  fifty-one  and  fifty-three,  may  be  directed 
to  and  executed  by  the  truant  officer,  or  either  of  the  truant 


io8  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I0g 

officers,  of  the  town  where  the  offense  is  committed.  All 
fines,  collected  under  said  two  last  named  sections,  shall  be 
paid  to  the  treasurer  of  the  city  or  town  in  which  the  offense 
is  committed,  for  the  support  of  the  public  schools  therein. 

The  first  report  of  Factory  Inspector  Morrison  x  deals 
very  briefly  with  the  welfare  conditions,  but  points  out  the 
good  conditions  existing  in  the  larger  mills  and  the  need  of 
persistent  work  on  the  smaller  to  make  them  satisfactory. 
He  shows  an  increase  in  the  number  of  children  working 
on  certificates,  i.  e.  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  to  813,  and 
accounts  for  this  by  the  scarcity  of  help,  stating  that  hardly 
a  mill  in  the  State  was  running  to  its  full  capacity  on  that 
account.  The  bad  conditions  existing  at  the  time  are  shown 
by  an  article  written  by  the  President  of  the  State  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  in  which  he  says,2  "There  are  hundreds  of 
children  today  under  the  age  of  twelve  years  working  from 
ten  to  twelve  hours  per  day,  when  the  law  says  they  shall  be 
in  school.  But  as  yet  we  have  not  been  able  to  remedy  this 
terrible  evil.  .  .  .  When  the  inspector  visits  and  finds  them 
working  in  any  factory  he  merely  orders  them  home.  As 
soon  as  he  leaves  the  factory  or  shop,  they  return  to  work 
again,  only  losing  a  small  amount  of  time.  This  is  done 
instead  of  prosecuting."  A  labor  committee  had  been  ap- 
pointed at  the  1905  meeting  of  the  Federation  of  Labor  to 
investigate  into  the  matter.  Many  cases  had  been  reported, 
and  but  few  taken  notice  of. 

There  now  appears  upon  the  scenes  for  the  first  time  in 
Maine,  the  type  of  newspaper  investigator,  which  is  so 
familiar  elsewhere.  Long  articles  appear  in  the  Lewiston 
Journal  in  the  Spring  of  1906  3  and  in  the  labor  papers,* 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1905,  p.  188. 

2  Maine  Labor  Journal,  vol.  i,  no.  1  (June  1,  1906). 

3  Ibid.     (June  16th). 

4  Ibid.,  no.  2  (Mar.  1,  1907),  "Child  Slavery  in  Maine." 


I09]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  IOg 

written  in  catchy  style,  appealing  to  the  emotions  of  the 
reader.  The  cry  of  two  thousand  children  at  work  in  the 
mills  was  raised  and  facts  were  stated  which  showed  clearly 
that  better  legislation  was  needed,  but  did  not  add  any  proof 
of  wholesale  violation  of  the  existing  labor  laws,  but  often 
an  exaggeration  accomplishes  more  that  is  good  for  the 
community  than  a  clear  statement  of  the  truth.  These 
articles  show  that  under  the  existing  law  the  parents  were 
the  only  ones  who  could  be  held  for  the  violation  and  that 
they  were  without  resources,  so  to  hold  them  liable  to  fine 
was  simple  cruelty,  and  in  so  far  they  pointed  truly  to  the 
weak  point  in  the  law. 

The  meeting  1  of  the  State  Federation  in  1906  demanded 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  law  and  decided  to  render  every 
possible  assistance  by  having  committees  appointed  in  the 
important  localities  to  make  report  and  if  the  officials  did 
not  do  their  work  to  have  them  removed.  The  attention 
of  the  whole  country  was  called  to  the  situation  by  the  ad- 
dress of  Samuel  Gompers,2  President  of  the  National  Feder- 
ation of  Labor,  delivered  in  Lewiston  that  Spring,  in  which 
he  said, 

I  have  read  the  reports  of  the  legislative  committees  in  the  dif- 
ferent states,  and  I  find  that  in  the  great  State  of  Maine,  in 
your  factories  and  in  your  mills,  the  statement  made  that 
children,  young  and  innocent  children,  less  than  twelve  years 
of  age,  are  working  for  these  corporations.  (A  voice.  Less 
than  eleven.)  I  said  less  than  twelve,  and  that  bears  me  out. 
Less  than  eleven.  Now  who  interests  himself  in  affairs  of  this 
character,  our  philanthropists,  our  churches?  The  members 
of  these  corporations  will  go  to  church,  and  for  about  five 

1  Proceedings  of  the  Third  Annual  Convention,  Maine  State  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  (June,  1906),  p.  14. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  28. 


i IO  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I1Q 

minutes  in  the  week  pray  for  the  men  and  women  and  children 
of  labor,  and  for  the  balance  of  the  week  proceed  to  prey  upon 
them.  The  effort  to  save  the  children  from  the  modern 
traffic  monger  all  devolves  upon  the  organizations  of  labor. 
Read  the  history  of  legislation  of  this  character  throughout 
our  entire  country,  aye,  the  world  over,  and  you  will  find  the 
associations  of  labor  have  initiated  the  agitation,  creating  public 
opinion,  reaching  and  shocking  the  public  conscience,  and  public 
spirited  men  have  grown  up  and  have  espoused  and  defended 
the  cause  which  labor  proclaimed.  But  here  you  are  in  Maine, 
with  children  less  than  eleven  years  of  age  working.  In  highly 
civilized  Maine,  children  less  than  eleven  years  of  age.  Tem- 
perate Maine.  If  the  people  of  this  state  had  an  opportunity 
of  deciding  that  question  upon  a  referendum  vote,  how  do  you 
suppose  it  would  go?  How  would  that  thing  go?  Where  is 
there  a  man  with  a  conscience  so  elastic,  with  a  heart  so  hard,, 
who  would  not  vote  to  abolish  the  labor  of  young  and  innocent 
children?  Where  is  the  man,  if  that  be  true,  and  I  doubt  that 
there  is  anyone  who  will  dispute  it,  who  claims  that  the  con- 
science and  the  hearts  and  the  minds  of  the  people  of  Maine 
are  not  against  that  sort  of  thing?  How  is  it  then,  that  you 
haven't  something  more  effective  than  what  you  have? 

There  was  begun  about  the  same  time  agitation  for  the 
fifty-eight  hour  law  and  the  Convention  of  Maine  Textile 
Workers  voiced  their  opinions  in  the  following  resolution : * 

Whereas,  It  is  generally  admitted  by  thinking  men,  who  have 
made  a  study  of  economic  and  industrial  questions,  that  where 
hours  of  labor  are  the  least  wages  are  the  highest  and  civiliza- 
tion has  its  standard  advanced,  while  where  hours  of  labor  are 
the  longest  wages  are  the  lowest  and  the  greatest  human 
misery  is  to  be  found.  Therefore,  we  should  spare  no  effort 
to  reduce  the  hours  of  labor  of  the  women  and  minors  of  our 

1  Kennebec  Journal  (Dec.  10,  1906). 


!  !  !  J  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  i 1  x 

State,  that  it  may  elevate  them  socially,  morally,  physically  and 
mentally.    Therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Textile  Workers  of  Maine,  do  hereby 
ask  and  demand  that  the  Legislature  of  this  State  pass  a  law 
making  fifty-eight  hours  per  week  the  limit  of  labor  for  women 
and  minors  in  factories  and  shops. 

Speeches  in  favor  of  the  fifty-eight  hour  law  were  made  by 
many  of  the  delegates  present,  among  them  Mr.  Carlin  of 
Brunswick,  who  advocated  it  strongly.  Mr.  Carlin  said  in 
effect  that  he  thought  that  it  was  time  Maine  had  the  law. 
Many  other  states  had  it,  and  the  fact  that  Maine  still  had  the 
sixty  hour  day  [sic]  acted  as  a  deterrent  to  other  states  re- 
ducing the  hours  of  labor.  Continuing,  he  said  that  the  manu- 
facturers of  other  states  where  the  law  was  in  force  were  not 
suffering  thereby,  and  in  proof  of  his  statement  cited  cities 
in  Massachusetts  where,  he  said,  new  mills  are  being  built 
every  year.  He  further  said  that  with  a  shorter  day  the  Maine 
manufacturers  would  have  less  difficulty  in  getting  help,  as 
those  who  come  from  places  where  the  fifty-eight  hour  law  is 
in  force  and  have  to  work  sixty  hours  per  week  do  not  stay 
but  return  to  the  places  from  whence  they  came. 

Another  point  that  he  made  was  that  the  old-fashioned  ma- 
chinery was  being  replaced  by  that  which  was  faster  and  more 
improved  and  which  called  for  quicker  work  on  the  part  of  the 
operator  and  forced  more  of  a  strain  upon  him,  making  him 
more  tired  at  the  close  of  the  day's  work  and  depriving  him 
of  the  desire  to  indulge  in  such  recreation  as  he  would  other- 
wise enjoy.  He  also  claimed  that  shorter  hours  and  the  re- 
sulting increase  in  the  time  to  be  devoted  to  rest  and  recreation 
would  render  the  operative  more  fit  for  duty  and  that  thereby 
he  would  produce  a  better  quality  of  work. 

The  report *  of  Inspector  Morrison,  published  January 
i st,  1907,  shows  how  unfair  legal  action  against  the  parents 
would  be.     Out  of  sixteen  fraudulent  certificates  found  in 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1906,  p.  211. 


1 1 2  FACTOR  Y  LEG  I  SLA  TION  IN  MAINE  [Il2 

a  mill,  he  found  that  only  one  parent  who  was  required  by 
law  to  sign  the  certificate  could  read  or  write  and  in  no  case 
could  a  hundred  dollars  fine  be  collected  without  great 
hardship.  The  inspector  suggests  two  amendments  to  the 
child-labor  law.  He  says,  "  We  recommend  that  Sec.  53  of 
Chapter  40  of  the  Revised  Statutes  be  so  amended  that  no 
child  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  instead  of  fifteen  as  now 
provided  in  said  section,  shall  at  any  time,  be  employed  in 
any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  in  the 
State.  We  believe  that  whether  a  child  is,  or  is  not,  attend- 
ing school  a  portion  of  the  time,  is  not  the  criterion  by 
which  we  should  try  to  control  child  labor,  but  for  the 
physical  and  moral  benefits  of  the  coming  generation,  it 
should  be  an  offence,  prohibited  by  our  laws,  to  employ  any 
child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  in  our  manufacturing  or 
mechanical  establishments."  The  further  suggestion  was 
that  a  certified  copy  of  the  city  or  town  clerk's  record  of 
birth,  baptismal  record  or  passport  should  be  put  on  file  by 
the  employer  and  a  certificate  issued  by  him,  furnished  by 
the  inspector  and  approved  by  the  Attorney  General.  This 
shall  also  be  kept  on  file  while  a  duplicate  is  sent  to  the  in- 
spector. At  the  same  time  the  factory  inspector  recom- 
mended that  the  term  "  corporation  "  as  used  in  section  58 
of  the  law  relating  to  fortnightly  payments  should  be 
changed  to  read,  "  mining,  quarrying,  stonecutting,  mer- 
cantile, street  railway,  telegraph,  telephone  and  municipal 
corporations,  every  incorporated  express  and  water  com- 
pany, and  any  person  or  firm  engaged  in  any  of  the  above 
specified  kinds  of  business." 

Statistics  of  child-labor  did  not  show  any  improvement.1 
November  1st,  1906,  there  were  877  children  employed  with 
certificates   in  the  mills  and    119   under  excuses.      While 

1  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1906,  p.  213. 


z  ! 3 ]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  1 T 3 

there  seems  to  have  been  "  hearty  cooperation  of  the  Super- 
intendents of  Schools  in  the  various  manufacturing  cities 
of  the  State,"  there  still  was  little  comprehensive  work. 
The  parochial  schools  of  Biddeford  and  Portland  made  no 
report  as  to  the  children  in  attendance  and  in  Lewiston  the 
parochial  opposition  to  the  surrendering  of  lists  of  pupils 
to  the  School  Board  made  adequate  enforcement  of  the 
truant  laws  in  the  big  cities  practically  impossible.  It  was 
believed  by  the  factory  inspector  at  the  time  that  fifty  per 
cent  of  the  certificates  under  which  the  children  were  work- 
ing were  false. 

§  3.  The  Legislature  of  1907. — Governor  Cobb  in  his  an- 
nual message  *  to  the  legislature,  January  3rd,  1907  recom- 
mended as  follows: 

I  especially  urge  you  to  change  and  improve  the  laws  bear- 
ing upon  the  question  of  child  labor  in  this  State.  Maine  is  lag- 
ging here  and  the  children  themselves  are  helpless.  You  must 
be  their  champions,  and  neither  the  thoughtlessness  of  parents 
nor  the  indifference  of  employers  must  be  permitted  to  inter- 
fere with  the  performance  of  the  State's  manifest  duty  to  pro- 
vide, as  best  she  may,  for  the  moral,  physical  and  educational 
welfare  of  these  children  to  whom  unfortunately  so  many  of 
the  pleasures  and  opportunities  of  childhood  are  denied. 

A  bill  was  introduced  into  the  House  raising  the  mini- 
mum age  at  which  children  may  work  from  twelve  to  four- 
teen, but  was  withdrawn  in  favor  of  a  stronger  bill  proposed 
by  the  factory  inspector  with  the  approval  of  the  Governor. 

The  hearing  before  the  labor  committee  on  Mr.  Morri- 
son's bill  was  one  of  those  that  gathers  together  all  the  civic 
forces  of  the  community.  I  quote  the  labor  version  of  the 
meeting  2  which  agrees  with  the  statements  of  the  Feder- 

1  Public  Documents,  1907 ;  Annual  Message  of  Governor. 

2  Maine  Labor  Journal  (Mar.  1907),  p.  19. 


1 14  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [  z  I4 

ation  of  Women's  Clubs  and  best  illustrates  the  bitterness 
of  labor  toward  capital. 

The  regular  labor  committee  room  was  not  large  enough  to 
accommodate  the  people  who  wished  to  attend,  so  the  meeting 
was  adjourned  to  the  Senate  Chamber  and  that  was  filled  to  the 
doors.  It  was  a  very  interesting  hearing  indeed  to  the  specta- 
tors and  a  very  busy  one  to  the  factory  owners,  who  were 
there  in  large  numbers  and  who  also  had  an  attorney  to  look 
out  for  their  interests  at  law.  The  owners  did  most  of  the 
speech  making  themselves  as  the  attorney  seemed  to  feel  em- 
barrassed in  his  position.  The  bill  was  in  charge  of  factory 
inspector  Mr.  Morrison  who  spoke  in  favor  of  the  measure. 
There  were  many  other  speakers,  among  them  Mrs.  E.  J. 
Mason  of  Biddeford,  Chairman  of  legislative  committee  of  the 
Maine  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  Mrs.  Frederick  Marsh 
of  Waterville,  President  of  the  same.  These  women  made 
eloquent  and  touching  speeches  and  they  certainly  helped  the 
boys  and  girls  in  this  State,  who  are  shut  up  in  the  prison 
factories  for  long  hours  every  day,  for  a  mere  pittance,  while 
by  their  work  they  add  largely  to  the  bank  account  of  the 
factory  owners. 

The  bill  was  before  the  committee  during  more  than  two 
weeks  and  during  this  time  the  mill  owners  brought  all  pos- 
sible pressure  to  bear  upon  the  committee.  One  point  of 
contention  was  the  section  55  which  made  an  exception  in 
regard  to  perishable  product.  This  point  was  backed  by  a 
strong  lobby  from  the  canning  districts  in  the  Eastern  part 
of  the  State,  but  as  a  compromise  a  clause  was  added  to 
the  section  providing  for  inspection  by  the  factory  in- 
spector of  the  conditions  and  giving  him  a  right  to  prohibit 
the  employment  of  children  until  the  conditions  had  been 
removed.  The  bill  repealed  sections  53,  54  and  55  of  the 
labor  law  of  1887,  thus  removing  the  educational  restric- 


j  !  s  ]  C7//LD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  j  T 5 

tions.  This  was  done  against  the  wish  of  the  Federation 
of  Women's  Clubs,  who  had  drafted  a  bill  providing  for 
an  educational  condition,  but  refrained  from  proposing  it 
fearing  to  injure  Mr.  Morrison's  bill.  On  March  7th  the 
Governor  signed  the  bill  and  it  became  a  law  September  1st, 
1907.     The  act  reads  as  follows : 

Section  1.  Section  52  of  Chapter  40  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
is  hereby  amended  by  striking  out  the  word  "  twelve  "  in  the 
first  line  of  said  section  and  substituting  therefor  the  word 
"  fourteen,"  also  by  striking  out  the  words  "  and  every  parent 
or  guardian  who  permits  any  child  to  be  so  employed,"  so  that 
the  said  section  as  amended,  shall  read : 

"  Section  52.  No  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  be 
employed  in  any  manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment 
in  the  state.  Whoever,  either  for  himself,  or  as  superintendent, 
overseer  or  agent  of  another,  employs  or  has  in  his  employment 
any  child  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  section,  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  twenty-five,  nor  more  than 
fifty  dollars  for  each  offense." 

Section  2.  Sections  53,  54  and  55  of  said  Chapter  40  are 
hereby  repealed. 

Section  3.  Chapter  40  of  the  Revised  Statutes  is  hereby 
amended  by  inserting  as  Section  53  of  said  chapter  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  Section  53.  Any  child  over  fourteen  years  of  age,  and 
under  sixteen  years  of  age,  applying  for  employment  in  any 
manufacturing  or  mechanical  establishment  in  this  state,  or  any 
person  applying  in  his  behalf,  shall  produce  and  present  to  the 
owner,  superintendent  or  overseer  of  such  establishment  a 
certified  copy  of  the  town  clerk's  record  of  the  birth  of  such 
child,  or  a  certified  copy  of  his  baptismal  record  showing  the 
date  of  his  birth,  or  his  passport  showing  said  date  of  birth,  and 
without  the  production  and  presentation  of  said  town  record, 
baptismal  record  or  passport,  such  child  shall  not  receive  the 
employment  applied  for.    The  employer  shall  retain  such  town 


1 16  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [x  x6 

record,  baptismal  record  or  passport  and  shall  issue  to  such 
child  a  certificate  containing  the  name  of  the  child,  the  names  of 
his  parents,  if  living,  or  guardian,  if  any,  with  the  residence  of 
said  child,  parent  or  guardian,  and  such  other  facts  as  may  be 
required  by  the  inspector  of  factories,  workshops,  mines  and 
quarries,  which  certificate  shall  be  furnished  in  blank  by  said 
inspector  and  shall  be  approved  as  to  form  by  the  attorney 
general.  The  employer  shall  furnish  to  said  inspector  a  copy  of 
each  certificate  thus  issued  immediately  after  the  issuance  of  the 
original,  which  copy  shall  be  retained  by  the  inspector  upon  a 
file  prepared  for  that  purpose.  When  such  child  leaves  such 
employment  the  employer  shall  return  to  such  child  the  copy 
of  town  record,  baptismal  record  or  passport  furnished  by  him 
as  aforesaid  and  shall  immediately  notify  said  inspector  that 
such  child  has  left  his  employment,  and  the  date  of  such  leav- 
ing. The  inspector  of  factories,  workshops,  mines,  and  quar- 
ries, or  either  of  his  assistants,  may  demand  the  names  of  the 
children  under  sixteen  years  of  age  employed  in  such  establish- 
ment, in  the  several  cities  and  towns  of  the  state,  and  may 
require  that  the  certificates  of  age  prescribed  in  this  section, 
shall  be  produced  for  his  inspection,  and  a  failure  to  produce 
the  same,  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  that  the  employment  of 
such  child  is  illegal." 

Section  4.  Said  Chapter  40  is  further  amended  by  the  in- 
sertion of  Section  54  the  following: 

"  Section  54.  The  penalties  provided  by  Section  52  of  this 
chapter  shall  apply  to  all  provisions  of  Section  53.  It  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  inspector  of  factories,  workshops,  mines  and 
quarries,  and  of  his  assistants  to  investigate  and  prosecute  all 
violations  of  the  provisions  of  the  two  preceding  sections." 

Section  5.  Section  56  of  said  Chapter  40  is  hereby  amended 
by  renumbering  the  same  as  Section  55  and  by  striking  out 
the  word  "  eight "  in  the  first  line  thereof  and  inserting  in 
place  thereof  the  word  "  seven  "  and  by  also  adding  to  this 
section  the  following :  '  Provided,  however,  the  employment 
of  children  therein  shall  be  under  the  supervision  of  said  in- 


!  !  7]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  I  T  y 

spector  who  shall  on  complaint  investigate  the  sanitary  condi- 
tions, hours  of  labor  and  other  conditions  detrimental  to  child- 
ren, and  if  he  finds  detrimental  conditions  to  exist,  he  may 
prohibit  the  employment  of  children  therein  until  such  condi- 
tions are  removed/  so  that  said  section  as  amended  shall  read 
as  follows: 

"  Section  55.  Nothing  in  the  seven  preceding  sections  shall 
apply  to  any  manufacturing  establishment  or  business,  the 
materials  and  products  of  which  are  perishable  and  require 
immediate  labor  thereon,  to  prevent  decay  thereof  or  damage 
thereto.  Provided,  however,  the  employment  of  children 
therein  shall  be  under  the  supervision  of  said  inspector  who 
shall  on  complaint  investigate  the  sanitary  conditions,  hours 
of  labor  and  other  conditions  detrimental  to  children  and  if  in 
his  judgment  he  finds  detrimental  conditions  to  exist,  he  may, 
in  conjunction  with  the  municipal  officers  of  the  town  or  city 
of  which  the  complaint  is  made,  prohibit  the  employment  of 
children  therein  until  such  conditions  are  removed." 

Section  6.   This  act  shall  take  effect  September  1st,  1907. 

The  salary  of  the  factory  inspector  was  also  increased 

$200.1 

§  4.  Other  Labor  Legislation  Before  The  J  3d  Legisla- 
ture.— There  were  proposed  a  number  of  bills,  which  were 
in  the  interest  of  the  laboring  classes.2  An  amendment  to 
Section  58  of  Chapter  44  of  the  Revised  Statutes  relating 
to  the  "  fortnightly  payment  of  wages "  was  drafted  and 
strenuous  measures  were  made  by  the  Federation  of  Labor 
to  secure  its  passage.  The  amendments  were  along  the 
line  proposed  by  the  Inspector  of  Factories,  but  the  bill 
was  killed  in  the  Judiciary  Committee.  An  employment 
agency  bill 8  designed  to  prevent  the  fleecing  of  those  who 
applied  to  employment  agencies  for  work  was  introduced 

1  Laws  of  1907,  chap,  lxxvii. 

2  Maine  Labor  Journal,  vol.  i,  no.  3,  p.  16  (August,  1907). 
8  Laws  of  1907,  chap,  lxxxiv,  sees.  1-7. 


I  jS  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [ r  jg 

by  Representative  G.  Raymond  Joy  of  Bar  Harbor  and  be- 
came a  law.  Under  the  old  system  the  employment  agencies 
frequently  took  the  money  of  parties  applying  for  positions 
and  sent  them  after  'fake'  jobs.  Under  the  provisions  of  this 
bill,  if  the  applicant  does  not  get  the  position  for  which  he 
applies  his  money  must  be  returned.  The  agency  is  re- 
quired to  give  a  bond  in  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars 
not  to  violate  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and  cannot 
charge  more  than  one  dollar,  and  must  give  a  receipt 
for  it.1 

§  5.  The  Fifty  Eight  Hour  Bill. — The  bill  reducing  the 
hours  of  labor  of  women  and  children  in  factories  from  sixty 
to  fifty-eight  hours  was  proposed  by  the  textile  workers,  and 
was  opposed  by  the  same  forces  which  opposed  the  amend- 
ments to  the  child-labor  law.  A  strong  delegation  repre- 
sented labor  in  the  State,  and  some  even  coming  from  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Rhode  Island.  The  bill  was  killed  in  com- 
mittee. 

The  Employer's  Liability  Bill,  which  was  drawn  by  Al- 
fred R.  Peakes  of  Foxcroft  was  ably  defended  by  him  be- 
fore the  committee  on  judiciary.  The  bill  was  as  strongly 
opposed  by  the  best  legal  talent  in  the  State  and  the  com- 
mittee did  not  report  favorably  upon  it.  The  provisions 
of  the  bill  were  to  shift  the  financial  loss  from  persons  who 
receive  the  injury  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  be  added  to 
the  cost  of  production  of  the  goods  in  the  manufacture  of 
which  the  accident  occurred.  This  is  simply  an  extension 
of  the  principle  of  other  insurance  to  the  field  of  the  em- 
ployee. A  foundry  bill  was  also  introduced  to  improve  the 
condition  in  the  foundries  but  was  killed  because  opposed 
by  the  inspector  of  factories  as  unnecessary. 

A  bill 2  was  passed  that  dealt  with  the  regulation  of  the 

1  Eastern  Argus  (June  15,  1907)-  2  Laws  of  1907,  chap.  vii. 


ug]  CHILD  LABOR  CAMPAIGN  IIOy 

lumbering  men  who  work  during  the  winter  in  the  camps 
of  the  interior.  The  subject  is  too  far  afield  to  do  any- 
more than  mention  its  passage.  The  custodians  of  eleva- 
tors1 were  also  the  subjects  of  regulations  by  this  legislature. 
§  6.  Initiative  and  Referendum. — A  bill 2  was  introduced 
and  carried  in  this  legislature  which  at  first  would  seem 
not  to  come  under  the  head  of  factory  legislation,  but  in  the 
discussion  that  will  follow  in  the  next  chapter  we  will  see 
its  direct  bearing.  This  was  the  bill  for  initiative  and  refe- 
rendum amending  the  Constitution  and  was  passed  to  be 
referred  to  the  people  at  the  election  in  September,  1908. 
For  it  the  labor  unions  had  been  working  for  some  years 
and  it  had  the  backing  of  the  Grange  and  civic  bodies.  It 
provided  for  the  initiation  of  bills  into  the  legislature  by 
petition  and  gives  the  right  of  veto  to  the  people  at  a  gen- 
eral election  if  petitioned  for  within  sixty  days  after  the 
passage  of  the  bill.  With  its  passage  a  new  era  of  factory 
legislation  dawned  upon  the  State  and  it  is  fitting  that  with 
its  passage  this  history  of  factory  legislation  should  close. 

1  Laws  of  1907,  chap.  iv. 

2  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1907;  "Labor 
Laws  of  1908." 


PART  II 


ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  FACTORY  LAW  (1908) 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Introductory 

§  i.  Meaning  of  Referendum. — The  history  of  sixty  years 
of  struggle  for  factory  legislation  closed  with  the  passage 
of  the  initiative  and  referendum  act.  The  struggle  for  the 
protection  of  the  laboring  people  by  the  State  has  not  ended, 
in  reality  has  only  begun.  The  change  that  has  been 
wrought  in  the  sixty  years  has  been  the  gradual  extension 
of  the  police  power  of  the  State.  A  counter  movement,  re- 
sulting from  control  of  State  legislation  by  a  few  individ- 
uals, has  resulted  in  the  referendum,  which  has  returned  to 
each  individual,  not  the  freedom  from  responsibility  to  gov- 
ern his  own  acts  of  an  industrial  type  as  an  individual,  but 
the  responsibility  to  govern  the  actions  of  himself  and  his 
fellow  workmen  as  well,  as  a  member  of  an  industrial  state. 
No  longer  can  the  plea  be  made  that  capital  can  buy  shrewd 
lawyers  who  directly  or  indirectly  can  control  the  legisla- 
ture. It  is  an  old  saying  that  you  cannot  fool  all  the  people 
all  the  time,  and  in  a  democracy  there  can  be  no  complaint 
if  conditions  adverse  to  the  majority  of  the  people  in  the 
community  are  allowed  to  remain  when  the  will  of  that  ma- 
jority is  able  to  express  itself.  The  future  factory  legisla- 
tion of  the  State,  whether  for  or  against  organized  labor 
or  organized  capital,  must  have  the  sanction  of  the  majority 
of  the  people  in  the  State.  When  the  warring  factions  in 
the  labor  dispute  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
wished  a  jury  to  try  the  Haywood  case  both  sides  agreed  in 
choice  of  farmers  as  the  jury.  Maine  today  has  a  popula- 
123]  123 


I24  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I24 

tion  made  up  largely  of  farmers,  and  this  jury  can  be  trusted 
perfectly  to  bring  in  an  honest  decision  in  the  case  of  dis- 
agreement between  capital  and  labor.  Probably  in  no 
other  State  can  the  referendum  hope  for  such  good  results 
and  can  there  be  expected  for  the  future  such  sane,  far- 
sighted  legislation. 

§  2.  Necessity  for  Period  of  Education. — When  the  case 
of  the  western  miners  was  presented  to  the  Idaho  jury,  there 
were  weeks,  even  months,  spent  in  the  education  and 
informing  of  the  farmer  jury  of  the  exact  facts  of  the 
case  it  was  called  upon  to  decide.  In  glancing  back  across 
the  history  of  the  sixty  years  we  find  that  a  period 
of  education  preceded  each  of  the  periods  of  legislative 
enactment,  short,  maybe,  in  the  period  before  1847,  but  ex- 
tending over  several  years  previous  to  1887,  and  this  again 
is  true  in  1907.  This  period  of  education  was  limited  sim- 
ply to  agitation  in  an  educational  group  in  the  early  time, 
in  a  labor  group  in  the  middle  period,  and  in  labor  combined 
with  the  federated  clubs  in  the  last.  In  the  future  the  edu- 
cational campaign  for  labor  legislation  must  extend  to  the 
Canadian  border  and  the  mountain  wilds  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. Even  in  the  movement  for  the  referendum  the  aid  of 
the  Grange  was  sought  and  secured  by  their  brethren  of  the 
Unions.  In  the  future  the  vote  of  the  community  in  the 
lumbering  camps  and  of  those  who  sail  the  little  smacks 
among  the  islands  of  the  sea  must  be  counted  on.  To  bring 
such  to  the  realization  of  the  justice  in  the  legislation  de- 
manded by  organized  labor  or  the  voluntary  civic  organiza- 
tions that  are  interested  in  the  amelioration  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  people  is  no  easy  task,  specially  for 
those  who  have  some  pet  panacea  to  cure  the  evils  that 
affect  a  very  limited  number  of  people.  There  will  be 
need  of  careful  reasoning  and  much  forethought  to  accom- 
plish such  results,  and  no  hasty  steps  looking  to  temporary 


12$]  INTRODUCTORY  I2$ 

benefits  and  immediate  ends  would  be  successful.  It  is  with 
the  realization  of  this  need,  that  the  next  attempts  in  factory- 
legislation  in  the  State  of  Maine  should  be  founded  upon 
the  experience  of  the  past  which  antedates  the  knowledge 
of  almost  all  the  voters  in  the  State,  that  the  foregoing  his- 
tory has  been  written,  and  the  concluding  suggestions  are 
offered  as  to  possible  lines  for  legislation  in  the  immediate 
future. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Agencies  of  Enforcement 

§  i.  The  Lack  of  Coordination  among  Agencies  of  En- 
forcement.— The  growth  of  police  power  in  the  different 
parts  of  the  country  has  tended  to  develop  a  number  of 
types  of  special  police  to  administer  laws  enacted  to  regulate 
certain  growing  evils  in  the  community.  In  Maine  there 
has  been  provided  a  factory  inspector  to  care  for  the  con- 
ditions in  the  manufacturing  and  mercantile  lines,  a  group  of 
special  county  officers  appointed  by  the  governor  to  prevent 
immorality  and  the  abuse  of  children,  and  a  third  class  of 
truant  officers  operating  in  the  respective  towns  and  ap- 
pointed and  paid  for  by  the  school  committees  of  those 
towns.  These  three  types  of  administrative  officers  each 
has  some  power  of  inspection  and  control  of  the  working 
children  of  the  State.  Beyond  this  sphere  of  common  ac- 
tivity, the  factory  department  has  the  problems  of  the  better- 
ing of  the  welfare  conditions  in  the  factories  and  the  duty 
of  the  adjustment  of  disputes,  the  protective  agents  having 
the  vice  side,  while  the  truant  officers  have  the  task  of  plac- 
ing the  children  in  the  schools.  Despite  the  common  field 
of  activity,  this  machinery  of  State  control  has  never  been 
properly  adjusted  to  do  efficient  work.  Contact  between 
these  parts  is  absolutely  lacking  in  most  cases,  and  the  ex- 
ceptions have  resulted  in  enough  friction  to  produce  the 
only  sparks  of  life  visible  in  the  reports  of  the  factory  in- 
spectors these  twenty  years. 

126  [126 


12f]  AGENCIES  OF  ENFORCEMENT  I2y 

In  the  history  of  the  factory  department  there  have  been 
a  number  of  attempts  to  abolish  the  department  as  useless. 
Throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  attendance  regulation, 
whether  in  the  hands  of  the  school  committee  or  the  town 
truant  officers,  its  effectiveness  has  been  nullified  by  the  in- 
fluence of  the  employers  over  these  boards  and  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  parochial  schools  to  being  interfered  with  by 
public  school  officials.  Now,  the  county  protective  officers 
being  free  from  the  town  influence  and  close  to  the  advice 
and  the  autocratic  power  of  the  court,  have  been  able  to 
exert  in  a  limited  field  great  ameliorative  as  well  as  cor- 
rectional power. 

We  have  seen  that  there  exist  town  officers,  county  offi- 
cers and  a  State  officer  attempting  to  deal  with  the  same 
problem,  i.  e.,  child  labor.  The  school  authorities  admit 
that  there  is  need  of  centralized  State  control  of  truancy, 
while  the  factory  inspector  has  many  times  pleaded  that  a 
State  officer  should  be  appointed  to  supervise  the  attend- 
ance work,  whether  he  be  a  member  of  the  factory  depart- 
ment or  the  Board  of  Education.  The  position  is  still  more 
complicated  by  the  location  of  the  office  of  the  factory  in- 
spector at  Biddeford,  two  hours  from  the  State  capital. 
In  the  meantime  the  protection  officers  have  in  several  coun- 
ties been  proceeding  to  control  the  work  of  the  lagging 
truant  officers,  to  inspect  the  factories  and  industrial  estab- 
lishments and  even  to  enforce  the  registration  of  juvenile 
employees  in  mercantile  establishments. 

The  salary  received  by  these  officers  is  another  complica- 
tion. The  $1200  received  by  the  factory  inspector  is  so 
small  that  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  carry  on  a  stone-cutting 
establishment  adjoining  his  office,  which  in  the  case  of  the  in- 
cumbency of  a  dishonest  official  would  provide  a  way  for 
"honest  graft."  (Fortunately  this  is  not  the  case  at  present.) 
The  protective  officers  are  paid  by  the  respective  counties, 


128  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I2g 

and  the  truant  officers,  $2  a  day  by  the  school  committee. 
These  are  the  facts  of  the  case. 

§  2.  The  Organization  of  a  Department  of  Labor  and 
Child  Protection. — Out  of  this  conflict  of  police  power 
must  evolve  a  uniform,  easily  running  system  of  control. 
The  State  of  Maine  is  too  poor  at  present  and  may  be  for 
some  years  to  come,  to  stand  any  duplication  in  machinery 
for  the  enforcement  of  these  laws,  and  the  present  extent  of 
the  evils  these  agencies  are  organized  to  eradicate  is  not  of 
enough  magnitude  to  justify  it.  There  is  need  of  a  central 
bureau  of  investigation  and  record  at  the  State  capital,  of 
officers  of  the  law  who  will  see  the  cases  of  violation  through 
the  court,  and  of  the  host  of  men  scattered  over  the  differ- 
ent communities  following  up  the  individual  children  and 
returning  them  to  school. 

The  present  machinery  available  in  the  State,  it  would 
seem,  is  sufficient  to  accomplish  this  end  provided  there  were 
pressure  enough  brought  to  bear  by  the  people  of  the  State 
to  overcome  the  personal  antagonism  to  such  a  scheme  which 
would  result  from  the  petty  jealousies  of  the  individuals  in- 
volved. Only  a  few  changes  would  be  necessary.  The 
Governor  already,  through  his  power  of  removal,  can  see 
that  the  office  of  the  factory  inspector  is  removed  to 
Augusta,  where  his  duties  could  be  limited  to  the  careful  in- 
vestigation of  the  workings  of  the  many  laws  which  are 
now  on  the  statute  books  and  which  are  easily  covered  by 
the  act  organizing  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor 
Statistics.  For  such  work  the  amount  paid  by  the  Bureau 
for  extra  investigation  might  be  saved  and  a  like  amount 
made  available  for  the  securing  of  assistance  in  regard  to 
enforcement.  If  this  assistance  were  even  in  a  very  meagre 
way  paid  to  the  county  protective  officers  it  would  bring 
them  into  line  as  agents  of  the  department  and  secure  their 
permanence  in  every  county.     If,  furthermore,  the  truant 


I2g]  AGENCIES  OF  ENFORCEMENT  I2o, 

officers  were  required  by  law  to  report  to  the  county  pro- 
tective officers,  a  system  would  be  inaugurated  favorable  to 
effective  work.  The  parochial  schools  would  not  be  able 
to  avoid  the  duty  of  reporting  truancy  to  State  officials,  but 
the  present  law  would  still  require  the  school  committee  to 
vote  the  salary  of  the  truant  officers,  or  show  reason  why 
before  the  court.  This  scheme  is  not  presented  as  a  model 
for  any  other  State,  but  as  suited  to  the  conditions  of  today 
in  the  State  of  Maine. 


CHAPTER  X 

Child  Labor 

§  i.  Defects  in  The  Law  of  1907. — Unfortunately  the 
advance  made  in  child-labor  legislation  in  1907  was  not  of 
a  kind  that  was  intended  to  remain  without  revision  for  a 
series  of  years.  It  was  a  compromise  measure  and  was  al- 
lowed to  pass  in  a  form  that  directly  conflicted  with  the  edu- 
cational laws  of  1905.  The  present  labor  law,  in  raising 
the  minimum  age  to  fourteen  years,  revoked  Section  53  of 
the  former  act,1  which  provided  for  school  attendance  for 
sixteen  weeks  of  all  children  between  twelve  and  sixteen 
years  of  age,  but  did  not  revoke  the  section  of  the  school 
law  which  required  attendance  for  the  whole  time  until 
fifteen  years  of  age.  So  it  is  that  in  1908  children  can  be 
employed  under  the  factory  act  after  they  have  proved  that 
they  have  passed  their  fourteenth  birthday,  while  they  are 
open  to  arrest  as  truants  if,  during  the  year  in  which  they  are 
fourteen,  they  are  found,  while  school  is  in  session,  employed 
in  any  factory.  This  condition  allows  for  summer  work 
and  work  after  school  for  children  of  fourteen.  The  com- 
bined law  (and  legally  it  is  combined,  though  at  present  the 
divisions  of  enforcement  make  it  appear  otherwise)  would 
probably  satisfy  the  physical  and  social  needs  of  the  chil- 
dren. Before  the  legislature  of  1909  there  will  probably 
be  introduced  a  bill  to  lower  the  compulsory  attendance  age 
to  fourteen  years  and  another  to  provide  an  educational  test 

1  Act  of  1887. 
130  [130 


131]  CHILD  LABOR  1^1 

for  all  children  applying  for  certificates  of  labor.  In  the 
present  state  of  education  in  certain  districts  of  Maine,  the 
practical  value  of  requiring  an  educational  test  as  given  in 
some  more  densely  populated  States  is  very  questionable. 
An  ungraded  school  affords  no  criterion  as  to  the  grade 
reached,  while  examination  of  children  left  to  local  school 
officials  would  not  be  practical  on  account  of  the  conflict  of 
authority  between  public  and  parochial  schools.  The  edu- 
cational test  best  suited  to  the  Maine  conditions  would  be 
obtained  by  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  existing  laws  by  a 
reorganized  Department  of  Labor  and  Child  Protection. 
The  act  of  filing,  by  the  child  of  fourteen,  of  a  birth  record 
with  an  employer  during  the  school  term  and  its  transmis- 
sion as  required  by  law  to  the  office  of  the  chief  inspector 
would  place  in  the  hands  of  the  department  sufficient  evi- 
dence to  prosecute  any  case  which  might  arise,  even  without 
locating  the  school,  for  the  defense  would  have  to  prove,  in 
the  case  of  a  private  or  parochial  school  child,  that  the 
school  was  approved  by  the  school  committee,  that  a  signed 
certificate  of  his  attendance,  with  address,  was  on  file  in 
the  office  of  the  school  officers  of  the  town  in  which  the 
child  resided,  showing  that  the  child  was  in  attendance 
when  the  school  was  in  session.  The  proof  of  the  child's 
being  employed  would  show  any  such  certificate  to  be  un- 
true, and  no  such  defense  would  be  attempted.  Excuse  by 
the  school  committee  for  "  necessary  absence  "  on  account 
of  ill  health  would  not  be  allowed  in  the  case,  on  account  of 
poverty  the  charge  of  lack  of  support  could  be  made  under 
the  cruelty  law  and  the  child  committed  to  a  suitable  in- 
stitution. No  change  in  the  standards  of  the  child-labor 
laws  should  be  made  until  the  present  laws  are  rigidly  en- 
forced. 

§  2.  Poverty  of  the  Parents. — The  poverty  of  the  parents 
of  children  illegally  employed  was  the  excuse  for  the  non- 


I32  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [jjj 

enforcement  of  the  laws.  The  present  law  places  the  re- 
sponsibility for  certification  upon  the  employer,  but  in  the 
first  half-year  of  the  operation  of  the  law,  no  cases  were 
brought.  It  is  stated  by  those  familiar  with  charitable  con- 
ditions in  the  State  that  there  is  not  a  great  deal  of  poverty, 
and  it  is  claimed  by  those  who  enforce  the  cruelties  law  that 
fathers  and  mothers  can  in  almost  every  instance  take  care  of 
their  children.  Still  there  exist  a  few  children  who  are  con- 
fronted with  the  almshouse  and  it  is  to  the  disgrace  of  Maine 
that  children  are  at  present  to  be  found  in  the  almshouses. 
Many  more  would  be  sent  to  homes  if  they  could  be  taken 
care  of  under  proper  conditions.  At  present  there  are  sev- 
eral voluntary  associations  taking  care  of  orphan  children, 
especially  among  the  Roman  Catholics,  but  it  has  been  found 
impossible  to  obtain  room  for  all  destitute  children  in  these 
homes.  The  State  has  at  present  an  Industrial  School  for 
Girls  at  Hallowell  and  a  State  School  for  Boys  at  Portland. 
These  Schools  *  are  equipped  on  the  cottage  plan,  located  on 
beautiful  sites,  are  under  the  direction  of  a  superior  type  of 
official,  and  are  provided  with  better  educational  facilities 
than  those  existing  in  the  other  schools  of  the  State.  At 
present  boys  are  committed  for  petty  larceny,  i.  e.,  theft  un- 
der a  dollar,  embezzlement,  malicious  mischief,  malicious 
trespass,  riotous  conduct,  truancy,  disturbance  of  the  peace 
and  desecration  of  the  Lord's  day.  It  is  felt  by  many  that 
these  children  in  the  poorhouse  and  in  the  factories  cannot 
be  committed  because  they  are  not  criminal,  like  the  boys 
and  girls  in  these  State  schools,  but  if  there  exists  in  the 
State  of  Maine  one  healthy  boy  of  the  age  of  fourteen  who 
has  not  committed  at  least  one  of  these  "  crimes  "  at  some 
one  time,  he  ought  to  be  examined  by  a  physician.  Prin- 
cipal Wentworth  of  the  State  School  for  Boys,  in  reply 
to  a  query  on  the  subject,  states  the  following : 

1  Annual  Reports.  Public  Documents,  1871-1907. 


!33]  CHILD  LABOR  I^ 

In  regard  to  the  problem  of  the  dependent  boy,  that,  of  course, 
is  a  separate  problem  from  that  of  the  delinquent  boy,  and  yet, 
the  two  problems  coalesce  to  a  considerable  extent.  I  think 
on  the  whole  that  it  would  be  desirable  in  this  state  to  have  a 
State  Public  School,  to  which  dependent  children  could  be 
sent,  the  school  being  for  dependent  children  only,  so  that 
dependents  would  be  cared  for  in  an  institution  specially  pre- 
pared for  them.  While  to  me  this  would  be  the  ideal  way, 
yet  on  the  other  hand  by  establishing  more  cottages  here  we 
could  easily  take  dependent  children  as  well  as  delinquent  child- 
ren and  by  suitable  classification  in  our  cottages  could  practi- 
cally do  away  with  the  evil  results  which  sometimes  follow 
promiscuous  intercourse  of  the  two  classes  of  children.  Theo- 
retically, there  should  be  two  institutions  for  these  two  classes 
of  children;  but  practically,  we  could  take  care  of  them  very 
nicely  at  this  School  by  the  addition  of  as  many  cottages  as 
might  be  needed  for  them.  I  am  decidedly  opposed  to  the 
present  practice  which  prevails  to  some  slight  extent  of  allow- 
ing dependent  children  to  live  at  our  poor-houses. 

It  would  seem  that  some  action  should  be  taken  by  the 
legislature  of  1909  to  improve  these  conditions. 

§  3.  The  Canning  Industries. — Another  compromise  was 
made  in  regard  to  the  canning  industry.  This  industry  was 
made  an  exception  by  the  statement  in  the  act  of  1907  *  that 
"  nothing  in  the  seven  preceding  sections  shall  apply  to  any 
manufacturing  establishment  or  business,  the  materials  and 
products  of  which  are  perishable  and  require  immediate 
labor  thereon,  to  prevent  decay  thereof  or  damage  thereto.,, 
During  the  year,  1907,  an  official  investigation  2  was  made 
of  the  canning  industry  by  a  special  agent  of  the  Bureau  of 
Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  Miss  Eva  L.   Shorey,  in- 

1  Laws  of  1907,  chap,  xlvi,  sec.  5. 

2  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1907,  pp.  121- 
137. 


I34  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [T34 

tended  to  answer  the  statements 1  of  Mr.  John  Spargo  as  to 
the  conditions  of  that  industry  in  the  State  of  Maine.  The 
investigation  was  made  under  the  provision  which  was  added 
to  this  section  that  "  however,  the  employment  of  children 
therein  shall  be  under  the  supervision  of  said  inspector  who 
shall  on  complaint  investigate  the  sanitary  conditions,  hours 
of  labor  and  other  conditions  detrimental  to  children,  and  if 
in  his  judgment  he  finds  detrimental  conditions  to  exist,  he 
may,  in  conjunction  with  the  municipal  officers  of  the  town 
or  city  of  which  the  complaint  is  made,  prohibit  the  employ- 
ment of  children  therein  until  such  conditions  are  removed." 
The  facts  are  indisputable  as  to  the  filth  in  these  factories 
and  the  length  of  the  hours  and  the  violation  of  the 
school  law.  The  problem  of  enforcement  of  the  school 
law  and  the  general  provisions  of  the  factory  act  are  not  as 
difficult  as  would  at  first  appear.  The  report  shows2  that 
the  William  Underwood  Company  at  West  Jonesport  has, 
by  the  investment  in  first-class  machines  to  do  the  work,  pro- 
vided a  model  factory.  The  report  says,  speaking  of  the 
Underwoods,  "  The  floor  in  the  flaking  room  is  of  concrete, 
the  interior  is  painted  white  and  cleanliness  pervades  every 
part.  Machinery  is  used  in  nearly  every  part  of  the  process 
and  thus  many  of  the  unpleasant  features  observed  in  the 
usual  method  of  packing  are  absent."  If  one  manufactory 
can  make  a  profit  with  a  model  plant  in  competition  with  the 
old  wooden  shacks  that  exist  elsewhere,  there  is  no  argu- 
ment left  from  a  practical  business  standpoint  for  the  owners 
of  the  other  type  of  factory.  The  power  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  factory  inspector  and  there  is  no  need  for  change  in  the 
law  but  simply  the  need  of  the  moral  backing  of  the  commun- 
ity.    Furthermore  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  this  is 

1  John  Spargo,  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children,  pp.  170-171. 

2  Report  of  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics,  1907,  p.  136. 


135]  CHILD  LABOR  !35 

a  business  in  which  the  materials  and  products  are  "  perish- 
able and  require  immediate  labor  thereon  to  prevent  decay 
thereon  or  damage."  We  did  not  hear  the  packers  of 
Chicago  complain  that  their  work  was  of  a  perishable  type 
and  in  danger  of  decay  even  when  their  hogs  were  found 
by  the  inspectors  to  be  rotting  in  the  cars.  Every  business 
man  knows  that  if  more  material  is  brought  to  the  sheds 
than  can  be  taken  care  of  within  the  reasonable  hours  of 
labor,  it  is  likely  to  be  damaged  unless  properly  stored.  It 
is  an  old  saying  that  "  there  are  more  fish  in  the  sea  than 
have  ever  been  caught,"  and  every  fisherman  along  the  coast 
has  learned  not  to  load  his  boats  with  more  fish  than  he  can 
properly  take  care  of  when  he  reaches  land.  Why  should 
those  great  fishers  who  hire  steam  tugs  that  can  go  out  in 
any  weather,  that  use  seines  which  can  be  used  to  scoop 
up  myriads  of  fish  in  a  few  moments,  not  be  asked  to  con- 
form to  the  same  laws  of  business  which  the  Maine  fisher- 
men and  their  ancestors  since  the  time  of  the  Vikings  have 
found  applicable  ?  The  conditions  described  by  Miss  Shorey 
are  not  those  of  the  seasonal  work  1  found  in  some  other 
canneries,  for  instance  those  in  which  beans  are  prepared 
for  the  market.  Where  beans  are  rotting  on  the  vines  and 
must  be  harvested  and  perpared  within  a  limited  time,  and 
where  as  with  beans,  though  it  does  not  apply  to  any  other 
type  of  canning,  there  are  no  machines  as  yet  invented  which 
can  successfully  accomplish  the  work,  the  claim  of  "  perish- 
able "  may  hold  with  some  justification  before  a  court.  On 
this  ground  the  exceptional  clause  in  the  law  of  1907  may  be 
justifiable,  but  the  proof  remains  with  the  canners  of  fish 
to  sustain  their  claim  of  inherent  perishability  of  their  goods, 
which  are  different  from  all  other  goods  of  the  meat  variety. 

1  E.  S.  Whitin,  "Children  in  the  Canning  Industry,"  Outlook  (Jan. 
21,  1905). 


136  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I36 

Fish  under  the  Pure  Food  Law  l  is  meat,  and  the  affi- 
davit of  a  fish  canner  as  to  actual  conditions  under  which 
the  canning  is  being  done  in  these  Maine  establishments 
would  be  enough  to  force  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Ani- 
mal Industry  at  Washington  to  place  the  whole  work  under 
Government  supervision.  Under  Government  supervision 
model  conditions  would  be  established  and  machinery  intro- 
duced which  would  do  away  with  any  justification  of  child- 
labor. 

§4.  Mercantile  Establishments. — The  investigation2  of 
the  mercantile  establishments  of  Portland  by  Miss  Shorey 
in  1907  shows  that  there  were  uniformly  good  conditions. 
This  statement  is  verified  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  secretaries,  who  have  an  extensive  welfare 
work  in  connection  with  these  establishments.  These  stores 
are  at  present  not  covered  by  the  labor  law.  "  It  has  been 
strongly  urged,"  says  Miss  Shorey,  "  that  the  word  '  mer- 
cantile '  be  placed  in  the  law  to  include  stores  as  well  as 
factories."  Mrs.  Burnham,  the  officer  of  the  Children's 
Protective  League  of  Portland,  is  anxious  for  such  an 
amendment,  but  by  means  of  the  compulsory  education  law 
has  been  able  to  demand  of  the  department  stores  of  Port- 
land that  they  exclude  young  children  and  has  secured  from 
them  certificates  showing  the  names  and  ages  of  all  children 
in  their  employ.  This  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  possi- 
bility of  supplementing  weak  places  in  one  law  by  the  use 
of  general  powers  given  through  another,  and  it  probably 
would  not  be  impossible  under  the  system  of  centralized  en- 
forcement suggested  in  a  previous  chapter  to  regulate  these 

1  Dr.    Wiley,  Foods  and   their  Adulteration,   U.   S.   Department  of 
Agriculture  Circular  no.  19,  p.  503. 

2  "  Women   Wage- Workers,"   Report   of  Bureau   of  Industrial  and 
Labor  Statistics,  1907,  p.  138. 


!37]  CHILD  LABOR  137 

mercantile  establishments  even  without  a  distinctive  mer- 
cantile law.  Under  the  present  system  of  enforcement 
little  would  be  accomplished  by  including  the  mercantile 
establishments  under  factory  law. 

§  5.  Street  Trades. — Street  trades  for  children  outside  of 
the  big  cities  cannot  be  classed  as  dangerous,  with  the  prob- 
able exception  of  the  newsboy  who  jumps  on  and  off  the 
rapidly  moving  cars.  Portland  has  succeeded  very  well  in 
solving  this  problem  by  the  passage  of  a  city  ordinance  x  in 
1906,  enforced  by  the  police,  requiring  all  newsboys  to  be 
licensed.  It  serves  the  purpose  as  well  as  a  State  regulation 
could  and  has  proved  entirely  satisfactory.  It  might  well 
be  adopted  in  Bangor  and  several  other  of  the  large  cities. 
The  ordinance  as  approved  June  27,  1906,  reads  as  follows : 

Sec.  1.  No  person  shall  sell  or  offer  to  sell  any  newspaper 
or  newspapers  in  any  of  the  public  streets,  squares  or  grounds, 
or  in  any  public  place  in  the  city  of  Portland,  unless  he  has 
received  a  license  for  said  purpose  in  the  manner  hereinafter 
provided. 

Sec.  2.  The  city  marshal  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed 
to  grant  licenses  to  persons  of  good  moral  character.  When 
the  applicant  for  such  license  is  a  minor  under  the  age  of  ten 
years,  license  shall  be  refused  him,  unless  upon  the  written 
request  of  his  parents  or  guardian.  Every  licensee  shall  at 
all  times,  while  offering  newspapers  for  sale  upon  the  streets, 
squares  or  grounds,  or  in  any  public  place,  wear  a  badge  on 
the  outside  of  his  outer  garment,  and  so  placed  that  it  may 
be  distinctly  seen  and  read. 

Said  badges  shall  be  of  uniform  size  and  shall  be  furnished 
by  the  city  marshal  at  the  expense  of  the  licensee.  All  li- 
censes granted  as  aforesaid  shall  expire  on  the  first  day  of 
May  after  said  license  has  been  granted,  unless  sooner  re- 
voked by  the  city  marshal.    No  license  shall  be  sold,  assigned 

1  City  Ordinances,  Portland,  1906. 


^8  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [138 

or  transferred.     Every  licensee  shall,  when  required,  exhibit 
his  license  to  any  police  or  other  officer  of  said  city. 

Sec.  3.  This  ordinance  shall  take  effect  when  approved. 

Closely  associated  with  street  trades  is  the  work  in  the 
bowling  alleys  and  the  telegraph  offices  which  will  soon 
need  careful  regulation  although  at  present  perhaps  the  few 
children  employed  in  such  establishments  in  Maine  can  all 
be  reached  as  has  been  done  in  Portland,  by  a  committee 
from  the  Central  Federation  of  Labor,1  who  have  been  able 
to  eliminate  during  the  winter  of  1907-8  all  such  labor  from 
the  City  of  Portland  by  influencing  the  parents. 

iFrom  information  received  from  Mr.  A.  Eagles,  chairman  Central 
Federation  of  Labor. 


CHAPTER  XI 
Provisions  Affecting  all  Employees 

§  i.  Arbitration. — The  administration  and  enforcement 
of  such  laws  as  the  fortnightly  payment  law,  the  ten-hour 
law  and  the  regulation  of  safety  appliances  and  sanitary 
conditions  in  the  factories  has  been  a  matter  of  no  very  great 
difficulty  for  many  years,  especially  in  those  trades  where 
the  unions  have  a  strong  organization.  Most  of  the  fac- 
tories of  the  State  are  run  by  men  who  have  the  best  inter- 
ests of  their  employees  at  heart  and  take  pride  in  having 
good,  up-to-date  factories.  The  factory  inspector  seems 
never  to  have  used  force  in  persuading  compliance  with  these 
regulations,  probably  because  in  most  instances  moral  sua- 
sion was  sufficient,  although  in  some  cases  frequent  com- 
plaint was  necessary  to  bring  about  some  kind  of  com- 
pliance with  the  law. 

The  department  seems  to  have  been  of  considerable  value 
in  the  adjustment  of  dispute,  and  it  would  seem  that  a  board 
of  conciliation  and  arbitration,  to  form  which  a  bill  was  in- 
troduced in  1905,  would  be  the  logical  development  of  this 
end  of  the  work.  It  would  come  naturally  into  such  a 
scheme  for  the  reorganization  of  the  department  as  sug- 
gested in  a  previous  chapter.  The  further  extension  of  the 
fortnightly  payment  regulations  to  a  larger  number  of  trades 
could  not  help  but  be  beneficial  to  the  employee.  The  en- 
forcement of  such  regulations  so  as  to  cripple  business  enter- 
prise and  so  deprive  the  laborer  of  his  occupation  would 
139]  139 


l4o  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I40 

never  be  permissible  as  a  use  of  police  power  or  be  sustained 
by  any  court. 

§  2.  Fifty-Eight  Hour  Law. — The  experience  of  other 
states  in  the  competition  for  labor  has  proved  that  the  state 
that  has  the  best  regulations  in  regard  to  the  hours  of  labor 
secures  the  best  labor.  The  clamor  of  the  unions  for  a 
fifty-eight  hour  law  is  only  the  noisy  side  of  a  general  feel- 
ing which  pervades  the  State  that  a  reduction  of  the  hours 
of  labor  to  fifty-eight  per  week  is  necessary  to  acquire  or 
even  retain  the  right  type  of  labor.  In  the  seventy-second 
legislature  an  eight-hour  bill  was  introduced,  but  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  at  the  present  time,  if  such  a  bill  were 
passed,  it  would  not  be  found  unconstitutional. 

§  3.  Employers'  Liability. — The  failure  of  the  employers' 
liability  bill  to  pass  has  left  the  laborer  unprotected  in  the 
dangerous  trades,  there  being  no  regulation  even  in  re- 
gard to  minors  in  those  trades.  The  message  of  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  to  Congress  in  December,  1907  made  clear 
the  principle  that  the  employer's  liability  was  simply  the 
distribution  of  the  accident  insurance  over  a  larger  number 
of  people,  the  burden  being  placed  on  the  consumer  where 
there  were  fixed  wages  or  upon  all  the  employees  where 
there  were  variable  wages.  If  this  is  so  the  employer  will 
only  have  the  responsibility  of  seeing  that  it  is  given  to 
the  proper  recipient. 

§  4.  Conclusion. — Factory  legislation  in  Maine,  whether 
we  take  it  from  its  historical  or  its  administrative  side,  can- 
not help  but  seem  to  the  reader  of  these  pages  a  mass  of 
unconnected  attempts  to  get  at  something  in  the  way  of 
amelioration  of  the  conditions  of  the  laboring  classes — a 
something  as  yet  undefined  by  court  or  legislature,  yet  a 
something  that  flows  steadily  on  toward  a  goal  we  know  not 
of.  To  the  conservative  man  there  comes  a  feeling  of  re- 
action against  the  radical  movements  of  the   Knights  of 


141  ]         PROVISIONS  AFFECTING  ALL  EMPLOYEES        I4I 

Labor  and  the  more  recent  labor  bodies,  and  the  thought  of 
an  initiative  and  a  referendum,  giving  into  the  hands  of  the 
masses  the  power  of  bringing  about  rapid  changes,  seems 
revolutionary  and  dangerous.  Rumor  has  it  that  this  some- 
thing is  socialism  come  to  destroy.  But  to  the  man  who  can 
withdraw  from  the  field  of  the  contest  between  capital  and 
labor,  and  trace  with  care  the  evolution  of  our  present  laws 
through  those  many  periods  which  have  seemed  revolution- 
ary, there  comes  a  sense  that  this  something  toward  which 
these  movements,  and  the  laws  which  result  from  them,  are 
tending,  is  not  anarchy  but  harmony,  a  harmony  in  the 
process  of  ever  projecting  itself,  a  harmony  in  which  capital 
and  labor  are  coming  to  realize,  and  to  express  in  laws, 
that  they  are  one  and  inseparable. 

The  machinery  of  the  law,  in  which  our  experimentation 
and  invention  have  gradually  tended  to  decrease  the  friction, 
has  increased  in  efficiency.  Every  increase  in  efficiency 
of  the  machinery  in  the  State,  as  in  the  workshop,  has 
tended  to  displace  and  embarass  those  who  are  not  able  to 
adjust  themselves  to  the  bettering  conditions,  but  the  in- 
crease of  efficiency  has  ever  added  to  the  total  product  which 
it  is  possible  to  produce.  The  increase  of  profit  makes  pos- 
sible enlarged  opportunities,  ever-increasing,  whither  we  do 
not  know,  yet  our  duty  lies  ever  in  the  search  for  the  new 
which  will  aid  toward  the  developing  of  a  higher  perfection, 
a  greater  harmony.  To  thus  seek,  is  the  duty  of  all  who  are 
engaged  in  the  industrial  life  of  our  time,  and  surely  the 
men  of  Maine  have  no  higher  call.  If  a  little  light  thrown 
by  these  pages  upon  some  dark  and  forgotten  byways  may 
be  a  guide  to  some  groping  feet  toward  this  harmony  there 
will  have  been  accomplished  what  was  intended. 


I42  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [142 

Labor  Laws  of  Maine,  1908 

The  following  list  contains  all  the  laws  relating  to  the 
interests  of  the  laboring  people  of  Maine  as  collected  by  the 
Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics  and  published  in 
the  report  of  the  Bureau  for  1907.  To  the  law  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  Revised  Statutes  of  1903  is  added  a  statement 
of  the  original  laws,  any  amendments  thereto,  and  the  most 
important  decisions.  Page  references  to  the  mention  of  the 
law  or  decision  made  in  the  foregoing  history  of  the  factory 
legislation  will  be  found.  In  the  case  of  laws  relative  to 
railway  and  seamen  a  line  has  been  inserted  to  indicate  that 
they  are  not  considered  in  this  study. 

PUBLIC   HEALTH. 

PAGE 

Chapter  18,  Sees.  83  to  87.     (Small  Pox  in  Mills). 

Law  of  1889,  Chapter  213 89 

Act  to  provide  against  the  clanger  of  the  spread  of  Small  Pox 
from  Paper  Mills. 

NUISANCES. 

Chap.  22,  Sees.  22-23.     (Explosion  of  Boilers). 

Law  of  1850,  Chapter  189,  Sees.  1,  2,  3 80 

Act  to  prevent  the  explosion  of  boilers. 

Amend.  1858,  Chapter  49,  Sees.  1,  2 80 

Amend.  1887,  Chapter  49 80 

Decisions,  65  Me.  426;  75  Me.  373 81 

FIRE    PROTECTION. 

Chapter  28,  Sees.  37-44.     (Inspection  of  Factories). 

Law  of  1821 25 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  139,  Sec.  9 79 

Amend.  1893,  Chapter  220 91 

Amend.  1893,  Chapter  292,  Sees.  1,  2,  3,  4 91 

Decision,  84  Me.  55 96 

REGULATION    OF   TRADE. 

Chapter  37,  Sec.  6.     (Employment  Offices). 

Law  of  1854,  Chapter  105,  Sees.  1,2 95 

Law  of  1855,  Chapter  157,  Sees.  2,  4,  5,  7 95 

Amend.  1895,  Chapter  156,  Sec.  6 95 


I43]  LABOR  LAWS  OF  MAINE  1 43 

PAGE 

Amend.  1899,  Chapter  3 95 

Amend.  1903,  Chapter  114 95 

Law  of  1907,  Chapter  84,  Sees.  1-7 117 

Chapter  40,  Sees.  30-36.     (Trade-marks  of  Trade  Unions). 

Law  of  1893,  Chapter  276,  Sees.  1-7 92 

Chapter  40,  Sees.  40-42  (Bureau  of  Labor). 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  69 ' •  56 

Amend.  1891,  Chapter  133 87 

Amend.  1893,  Chapter  297 90 

Chapter  40,  Sees.  43-47.     (Appointment  of  Inspectors  of  Factories, 
Workshops,  Mines  and  Quarries). 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  139,  Sec.  9 ■  91 

Amend.  1893,  Chapter  220 91 

Law  of  1907,  Chapter  77 H7 

Decision,  84  Me.  55 96 

Chapter  40,  Sees.  48-55.     (Labor  of  Women  and  Children). 

Law  of  1847 34 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  139,  Sees.  1-10 76 

Amend.  1907,  Chapter  46  .   .   . 115 

Chapter  40,  Sec.  51.     (Notice  to  Quit). 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  139,  Sec.  4 77 

Decisions,  139  Atl.  Rep.  280;  58  Me.  217 62 

Chapter  40,  Sees.  57-58.     (Fortnightly  Payment  of  Wages). 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  134,  Sees.  1-5 60 

Decisions,  62  Me.  526;  52  Atl.  Rep.  655 63 

PROTECTION   OF   PROPERTY. 

Chapter  51,  Sec.  47.     (Liability  of  R.  R.  Companies). 

Law  of  1881,  Chapter  23.     (An  Act  Requiring  R.  R.  Corporations 

to  be  Holden  for  Labor.)     (Amendment  to  Law  of  1877,  Chap. 

186) - 

Amend.  1903.     (Applied  to  Street  R.  R.) — 

Decision,  44  Atl.  Rep.  Z77 — 

Chapter  52,  Sees.  70,  74,  75.     (R.  R.  Employees— Intoxication). 
Law  of  1842,  Chapter  9,  Sees.  3-4.     (Neglect  of  Duty — Act  Con- 
cerns R.  R.) — 

Law  of  1853,  Chapter  41,  Sec.  2.     (Intoxication) — 

Decision,  43  Me.  269.     51  Me.  318 , — 


I44  FACTORY  LEGISLATION  IN  MAINE  [I44 


PACK 


Chapter  52,  Sec.  82.     (Safety  Appliances  on  R.  R.). 

Law  of  1889,  Chapter  216,  Sec.  1 

Decision,  44  Atl.  Rep.  361 — 

Decision,  93  Me.  80 — 

Chapter  54,  Sec.  10.     (Regulation  of  Steamboats). 

Law  of  1874,  Chapter  172,  Sec.  7 — 

Chapter  54,  Sec.  12.     (Steamer  Employee  License). 

Law  of  1876,  Chapter  148,  Sec.  2 — 

Chapter  63,  Sec.  3.     (Married  Women). 

Law  of  1848,  Chapter  73 58 

Law  of  1852,  Chapter  227 58 

Law  of  1855,  Chapter  120 58 

Law  of  1857,  Chapter  59 58 

Decision,  91  Me.  552 58 

PROBATE. 

Chapter  72,  Sec.  42.     (Wages  Preferred). 

Law  of  1897,  Chapter  325,  Sec. 6 67 

Chapter  72,  Sec.  68.     (Wages  Exempt  from  Attachment), 

Law  of  1883,  Chapter  214,  Sec.  1 67 

Act  in  Relation  to  the  Insolvent  Laws. 

Amend.  1897,  Chapter  325,  Sec.  15 67 

Decisions,  35  Me.  291;  85  Me.  336;  85  Me.  357 67 

CIVIL   RIGHTS  AND  REMEDIES. 

Chapter  84,  Sec.  57.     (Hours  of  Labor). 

Law  of  1848,  Chapter  83,  Sec.  1 3 

Chapter  88,  Sec.  55-VI.     (Trustee  Process). 

Law  of  1821,  Chapter  61,  Sec.  15 24 

Amend.  1854,  Chapter  85 65 

Amend.  1877,  Chapter  210 65 

Decisions,  76  Me.  413;  80  Me.  125;  76  Me.  435 66 

Chapter  89,  Sees.  9-10.     (Injuries  Causing  Death). 

Law  of  1891,  Chapter  124,  Sees.  1-2 89 

Act  to  Give  a  Right  of  Action  for  Injuries  Causing  Death. 
Decision,  56  Atl.  Rep.  913 89 

Chapter  113,  Sec.  6.     (Assignment  of  Wages). 

Law  of  1876,  Chapter  93,  Sees.  1-2 64 

Amend.  1897,  Chapter  301 64 

Amend.  1907,  Chapter  306 64 


!45]  LABOR  LAWS  OF  MAINE  1 45 

PAGE 

Decisions,  68  Me.  428;  71  Me.  510;  74  Me.  496 64 

Chapter  119,  Sec.  6.     (Negligence  of  Steamboat  Employees). 

Law  of  1848,  Chapter  70,  Sec.  1 — 

Chapter  124,  Sees.  6-10.     (R.  R.  Strikes). 

Law  of  1880,  Chapter  200,  Sees.  1-5 — 

Act  to  Prevent  the  Obstruction  of  Business  on  Certain  Public 
Corporations. 

Chapter  125,  Sees.  25,  28.     (Sunday  Labor). 

Law  of  1821,  Chapter  9,  Sees.  1-6,  12,  13 21 

Amend.  1864,  Chapter  281,  Sees.  20,  22,  24 64 

Decision,  65  Me.  34      64 

Chapter  127,  Sec.  17.     (Seamen  Protection). 

Law  of  1899,  Chapter  53  — 

Act  for  Better  Protection  of  Shipmasters  and  Seamen. 

Chapter  127,  Sec.  21.     (Interference  with  Employment). 

Law  of  1887,  Chapter  303 '.     88 

Amend.  1891,  Chapter  127 90 

UNCODIFIED  LAWS— IOO5-I907. 

Law  of  1905,  Chapter  32,  Sees.  1-4.     (Protection  of  Employees  on 

Street  R.  R.  Platforms) — 

Law  of  1905,  Chapter  71,  Sees.  1-4.     (Licensing  Plumbers)    .   .   .  103 
Law  of  1905,  Chapter  123,  Sec.  9.     (Employment  of  Children  in 

Certain  Trades) ...  104 

Law  of  1907,  Chapter  4,  Sees.  1-2.     (Custodian  of  Elevators)     .   .  119 

Law  of  1907,  Chapter  7,  Sees.  1-2.     (Lumbering  Operations)     .   .  118 

HOLIDAYS. 

Law  of  1891,  Chapter  19,  Sec.  1.     (Labor  Day) 89 


OFTHF 


VITA 


The  writer  was  born  in  1881.  His  early  education  was 
received  at  the  Polytechnic  Preparatory  School  of  Brooklyn. 
After  several  years  spent  under  the  care  of  tutors  and  in 
foreign  travel,  he  became  a  student  in  Columbia  College, 
(Class  of  1904).  While  pursuing  the  required  College 
courses  he  took  part  in  the  literary  activities,  being  an  edi- 
tor of  the  Columbia  Spectator,  of  the  Morningside,  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Columbia  Monthly,  and  president  of  the 
Philolexian  Debating  Society.  Organizing  social  work  in 
Manhattanville  (New  York  City),  he  became  supervisor  of 
boys'  clubs  in  the  neighborhood  work  which  developed 
there  at  the  Speyer  School,  which  position  he  held  for 
four  years.  Having  graduated  from  Columbia  College, 
he  remained  for  two  years  a  graduate  student  in  Teach- 
ers' College,  taking  courses  under  Professors  McMurry, 
Monroe,  McVannel,  Thorndike,  Dutton,  Dewey  and  Hodge. 
He  was  a  student  in  the  winter  session  of  1905-6  of  the 
School  of  Philanthropy,  and  upon  graduation  became  sec- 
retary of  the  New  York  Welfare  Committee  of  the  National 
Civic  Federation,  which  position  he  resigned  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  study  of  social  economy  in  the  school  of  Political 
Science,  Columbia  University,  under  Professors  Lindsay 
and  Devine.  He  has  contributed  articles  to  Charities,  and 
the  Commons,,  the  Outlook,  etc.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Truant  Committee  of  the  Public  Education  Association,  the 
Children's  Welfare  Committee  of  the  Federation  of 
Churches,  and  an  officer  in  the  Department  of  Social  and 
Fraternal  Service  of  the  Religious  Education  Association. 

147 


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